Chaos of the Past
by Firestorm Runner
Summary: Zoey, JC, and the gang managed to make it to the Isle of Skye. Now, as Zoey and the circle learn about the old magick behind their powers, the Spirit vampyres must unravel and combat the misconceptions of their past as their Priestess faces her developing powers, Darkness, and inner demons while handling unwanted feelings towards a guy that she surely doesn't have time to deal with
1. New Beginnings

**A/N: For some reason the underline is not working in the doc upload...and it's bugging me with the POV statement. *sigh* Oh well.**

**Yay for part two and a new POV! I'm excited, I'll admit it, this'll be a fun ride I assure you. Though right now life is getting a bit hectic again, so I'm going to make you a proposition. If you get me _5 reviews_, or reviews and subs/favorites or whatever combination thereof, I will give a full chapter on Sunday, something longer than this little prologue. If I don't get these though...I'm gonna have to put it aside for schoolwork...sadly.**

**Oh, SYOC still going on too, just saying =).**

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><p><strong>Maggie's POV<strong>

I was fucking scared. I would never, _ever_ admit that aloud, but I was scared out of my damn mind. It was just a normal circle, JC was doing some weird but totally awesome magick to go along with it, and then Neferet was down screaming about it. And then just bam, holy shit, there were Raven Mockers!

It was probably the last way I expected that night to turn out, in complete and total chaos, but sure enough Crazy Bitch found a way. So we fought as the Raven Mockers came after us, Gwen and I, and we had the advantage thanks to the telepathy and a little thing called thought sharing. It wasn't something Gwen liked to flaunt, but she could not only hear others' thoughts, but also talk to others mentally. Really only I knew about it because she didn't want others asking to cheat and all that stuff, I understood that. It wasn't that she didn't trust the rest of our friends, because she did, it's just...I don't know, my girlfriend is odd like that sometimes. And JC didn't know because either Gwen didn't know her long enough or because she didn't want to freak her new roommate out anymore than she already had to deal with.

But anyway, I digress. We managed to fight off a couple of Raven Mockers and then we split up. I really don't remember why we split up, but we did towards the end when things were calming down and I was going toward the infirmary. I didn't intend for the two Raven Mockers to corner me and then force me towards the girls' dorm…but I knew what was going on when they did. Aphrodite's vision, that was all I could think about when I was running from them. It looked like it wasn't going to be stopped.

"Sometimes fate can't be altered," I muttered to myself, but I was scared as all hell to die. When one hit me in the leg and I crumpled to the ground with a crack, all I could think about was how much I _didn't_ want to die. I would never get to tell Gwen I loved her one more time, I would never get to call Zane a moron again, or admire another of Luke's sketches or get a history lesson from Harley…hell I wouldn't even get to know more about JC, our newest addition to the group.

But what was never done was now done. I pushed all of those thoughts to the back of my mind and squeezed my eyes shut tight when I hit the ground, preparing for the inevitable pain. One, if not both, of the Raven Mockers were going to tear out my back, and then probably rip my organs out one by one, and I could do nothing. My right leg was numb and I was too tired and too defeated to do anything other than to just prepare for it.

That pain never came though. I didn't hear her calling my name, but I heard her screaming…or more the battle howl of a wolf coming from her. I really had no clue what to think about that, as far as I knew there were no wolves in Tulsa and definitely not any near the campus…but I got my answer soon enough. Falling away from me were the two Raven Mockers, and tumbling past them was JC in full out battle mode.

They fought, and I could do nothing but watch as JC twisted and turned, throwing punch after punch at the things as they fought back. At one point in time, I thought I heard a sickening thud as one of them swiped at her…but she kept going so I assumed I was just hearing things, I really couldn't see what was going on too well behind the feathery black masses. It wasn't until they were gone and we decided to get to the infirmary that both of us found out half her shoulder was missing.

And that brought us to getting to the infirmary. Goddess we must have looked like a couple of soldiers returning from battle, me with my broken, twisted leg and JC with her bloodied, ripped up shoulder. But I was really happy…I should have been dead. If a broken leg was all I was going to be coming out with, I was perfectly content with that.

As we approached our destination, I noticed Lenobia standing outside, probably helping the number of fledglings and vampyres going to get treatment. "Maggie, JC?" she asked and came over to us, "what happened? Shouldn't you be going to the airport?" she asked, looking specifically at the girl I was leaning against.

JC let out a sigh and glanced at me, "yeah…I should be, but there were more important matters to deal with. Everyone else is gone, I made sure of that…I wanted them out of here as soon as possible," she explained.

Before anything else was said, we were momentarily sidetracked by Gwen. "Maggie?" she exclaimed, walking out of the door, "oh thank Goddess!" she cried and ran over to me, instantly taking me from JC and pressing her lips to mine.

And to think I may never have felt those soft, sweet lips against mine again. I relished in every second I felt her against me, memorizing every feeling. I shouldn't be having this, I should be dead…but I was still here. "Thank Goddess you're alive," Gwen breathed again, bringing her hands to my face and pressing her forehead to mine.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed JC and Lenobia give us some space. They walked away talking, the Spirit vampyre with a slight smile on her face. "Be thanking your roomie with the Goddess," I responded finally, meeting those amber eyes I loved, "she's the reason those Raven Mockers didn't tear me apart."

Gwen paused and glanced over to JC and her mentor talking and smiled a bit, "we owe her a lot."

"She's not going to want to hear it though," I chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, but still. C'mon, let's go get you cleaned up," she said and I nodded. We walked over to JC after Lenobia left and Gwen reached out, hugging her roommate.

She let out a cry again and bit her lip. My girlfriend pulled back in shock and confusion, "what's wrong? Oh damn!" she exclaimed, seeing the shoulder wound.

"Yeah," JC nodded but smirked a bit through the pain, "it hurt to get, but I'm damn proud that I have it now."

Gwen reciprocated the smirk and I figured it was just something between the two of them that I'd let go. "Right, alright, we need to get you both cleaned up now, so let's go," she added and we went into the infirmary.

Whatever good feelings we had were instantly gone when we stepped foot in the infirmary. The tension could be cut with a butter knife, and everyone was staring…er, _glaring_ at JC. "Oh Goddess, Lenobia was right," she whispered with a cry.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at her in confusion, "what did she say?"

"Lenobia told me that Neferet was going around brainwashing people. They think the Raven Mocker attack was my fault, that the representation calling was Dark magick and the Raven Mockers were attracted to that. That's what she said when she started screaming, that it was an abomination to the Goddess and I was performing Dark magick," JC explained, "that's why the Raven Mockers came, they were attracted by the Dark magick…and it's my fault. Because they didn't know what I was doing and it's Neferet, they believed her easily."

"But that's not true!" Gwen exclaimed quickly.

"I know that," JC admitted quietly, looking down, "but they don't…and you know as well as I do that they won't know. They won't hear it, Neferet won't let them. I didn't want to go out of here like this, on such a low note."

"You'll be alright," my girlfriend muttered and bumped her roommate gently on the hip, "unless we don't stop the bleeding on you. That's still going pretty strong."

"Yeah," she agreed and looked at her shoulder, "I'm going to go find someone about this, preferably Helena. Get Maggie's leg fixed up and I'll see you in a bit," she said and went off.

We both watched after her for a moment, and Gwen sighed. "I feel bad for her, I really do," she admitted after a moment, "Goddess knows Neferet's trying to slander her in every way possible."

"More like slaughter," I mumbled, "but all's fair in love and war. JC's strong, she has to be. And so do we. We gotta get through this, Gwennie, we have to."

"We will, Mags," Gwen promised and kissed my temple, "I see a room open and a nurse, let's get your leg fixed up."

I let out a small sigh and nodded, hobbling with Gwen to the room and preparing for the pain that I was sure to go through when the nurse had to reset my leg.


	2. Infirmary Talks

**A/N: You guys are awesome! After I posted this, I realized that it probably wasn't fair to ask for 5 reviews on a little over 1000 word prologue that could have used another couple rounds of editing. But you did it anyway, so thanks!**

**Truthfully, I hate writing exposition and I'm not very good at it, and even though this is a sequal, this is exposition. And something truly odd happened with this chapter...because this was not at all how it was supposed to go. I had an idea of what was supposed to go on, and the plot and characters just changed it entirely. Gotta love when that happens. Anyway, yes, I am going to bring in Shaylin because...while I am not particularly fond of her character and personality based on _Destined_, I _really_ want to mess around with her power.**

**Not particularly happy with her first encounter with Kalona. It was supposed to be much more angry and violent, but...well, refer to above. The next chapter is a split between two POV's and then we get to Skye with your guys's characters. For now, SYOC is still open to submits.**

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><p><strong><span>JC's POV<span>**

Having an adrenaline rush wear off on you is not a fun thing. Seriously, one moment I was rearing and ready to go for anything, and the next I was ready to fall flat on my face. It's really just not a fun transition to go through, hence the reason I was wandering through the infirmary looking for someone to direct me to do something other than…well…wander through the infirmary. For some reason I had a feeling that wasn't going to get me fixed.

And of course, the only people who could (and _would_) help me were the nurses, who were now overflowing with fledglings and vampyres injured from the attack. Said fledglings and vampyres not being attended to were either watching me with the darkest glares you could give a person, or just down right ignoring me, the latter was much preferred. "She's working her way again," Lenobia told me, "Neferet's managing to convince everyone the Raven Mocker attack came because you were using Darkness during the circle. And of course, if you were doing it then so was everyone else in the circle…and Daniel and I taught it to you. I just figured you deserved a fair warning before you went in there."

I didn't want to believe it when my mentor told me that. I didn't want to believe that Neferet could be doing such a thing in such a short amount of time and that everyone was choosing to believe her. I mean, based on past experiences I had no reason to deny it…but my brain didn't want to believe it (it was really only now starting to comprehend what happened in the past hour). Lemme just say it's hard _not_ to believe it when the evidence was staring me in the face. Or more, glaring at me…but same difference really.

I did not want to leave this way. Granted, I sure as hell didn't want to stay either, which was looking like the more probable outcome for a time because I didn't have a plane or any way to get to one. Just the thought of having to stay and go through all of this new hatred (or old hatred times a billion) and Darkness made me groan and feel even more uncomfortable. I decided to go sit in the corner of one of the waiting rooms and basically curl into a ball. The theory was that if I drew as little attention to myself as possible, there would be more ignoring and less glaring, which would be a much appreciated thing. Curling into a ball in the corner of a room seemed like a good way to not get that unwanted attention.

And then I wound up falling asleep. Don't know how, don't know how long, and don't know when, but I did doze off, not that that should really be surprising. Even if my mind was going 500 miles a minute, I was still too tired physically to stay awake apparently. And the only reason I even registered that I fell asleep was because I jumpstarted when Helena shook me awake.

"JC, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in transit to Skye?" the nurse asked.

I opened my eyes and stretched out my legs then nodded. "You're the third person to ask me that. Yes, I should be…but very clearly I'm not. Let's leave it at that," I retorted and sighed, "I need another fixing up on my hand…or more than likely anyway. I wasn't exactly thinking about that during the fight. My shoulder's torn up pretty badly too," I added for as to why I was there.

Her brown eyes looked me over for a moment before seeing my state. "I have a free room, let's go," Helena ordered and turned on her heel.

Grunting, I got up and followed wobbly after her, my legs were starting to feel like jelly. Again I'll say that adrenaline crashes _suck ass_. Along the way I'd noticed that a lot of those waiting had cleared out and I questioned how long I had been asleep for. "How long has it been since the rituals?" I asked and hopped up on the cot in the room we went to. I knew the drill by now.

"I believe it started around 45 minutes ago." Crap, for one, I didn't mean to doze off for that long, and for two, I had about 15 minutes until Lenobia wanted to see me again. Why did she want to see me? I didn't know, but before her warning of all the Neferet mind control stuff, she told me she wanted me to go to the stables in about an hour in order to 'talk in private.'

"Ok, do you think you can get me out of here in 15 minutes?" I asked.

The look Helena gave me meant that that was unlikely. "You've made your hand bleed again and your shoulder is an absolute mess, especially now with the dried blood. Didn't I tell you to stay safe this afternoon?" she asked.

I glanced at my shoulder and bit my lip, pushing back the nausea that came from seeing it. So gross. It was actually kind of ironic though, seeing as though I didn't mind blood and gore and injuries on other things (hell, I _did _want to be a vet), but when it came to myself…I was squeamish as all get out. "Yeah, you did," I answered finally and stuck my hand out to her. Huh, the bandages _were_ red, great. "But I didn't exactly intend for a flock of Raven Mockers to come and go nutso on the school. I made no promises."

"I probably should have made you do that," she muttered and unwrapped the second set of soiled bandages around my hand. I didn't respond, just watched as the bandages came off and winced when she used some alcohol to clean my hand up. That stuff burns!

"Now, the second part of this is not going to be fun," Helena told me as she wrapped new bandages around my hand and allowed me to take my body part back.

"Sounds like the story of my life right now," I grumbled. Yeah, my mood was plummeting, especially after the alcohol stuff and the knowledge it was going to be ten times worse with my shoulder.

"Sit up straight and stay still as much as you can," she ordered and went behind me. I did as she told and then let out a high pitched whine when she gently prodded the wound. "Well that isn't a good sign," she commented.

"Really? I would have never guessed!" I growled through gritted teeth and tried to force the tears from my eyes. Holy damn did that ever hurt! "I can't get some general anesthetic for this can I?" I asked rhetorically.

"We're not allowed to administer that, sorry," Helena apologized.

In response, I bowed my head, gripped the edge of the cot and sucked it up. Really, I had no other choice. And that's how it went for a while, me with my head bowed, eyes squeezed shut and leaking, a death grip on the bed, and throwing out snarls and expletives like no tomorrow.

Through the blood pounding in my ears, I heard the door open and brought my head up to see who was coming in. I figured it would be another nurse or maybe even Gwen or someone like that. Erik was the absolute last person I expected to be coming into the room.

"Don't move!" Helena ordered.

"I'm…damn it ow!" I hissed and took in a breath to try and go again. "I'm…ow, ow, ow! I'm trying," I finally whimpered out. Me and pain, we didn't get along, I was pretty much a wimp in that aspect…so if anything I learned I wasn't a masochist.

"I know it hurts, but please try better," she said more kindly.

I let out another breath and finally looked at the tracker, who had come in and was sitting on a chair near me and the nurse. "If you've come in to say hi and chat some…now is a _really_ bad time," I informed him then clenched my jaw against the pain.

Erik sighed and shook his head, "I heard the rumors going around that you were still here…among a bunch of other, worse things I am sure you've heard by now. I was hoping to find you in a much better condition…or not here at all," he explained, "that isn't what I was hoping for."

"Yeah, well obviously I'm still here," I paused a moment and took a breath, "and Raven Mocker's talons can do this to you apparently. That's the reason my shoulder is ground beef."

"Your shoulder isn't ground beef," Helena said, "but it's pretty close."

I rolled my eyes, "thanks for the report." My mood had plummeted another four levels.

"You're an idiot for not getting in that Hummer, should've ran when you had the chance," Erik commented.

I let out a breath, winced once, and then looked back to him. "Trust me, I've come to learn that very quickly," I said wearily.

"What, no fighting about you running away?"

I sighed again and shook my head lightly. I really didn't want to get on that subject either. "There's no point in arguing about it with you. You see what you see and I'll see what I see…I'm too tired to fight that," I answered.

He seemed to mull that over for a moment, "you want to run now, don't you?"

I smirked a little bit, and then it turned into a grimace thanks to my shoulder. Damn thing. Truth was my thought process had been changed quite a bit…and I didn't know what I wanted to do anymore. "A Raven Mocker can make you question a lot of things," I agreed, "not that it matters what I _want_ to do because of what I _have_ to do. If I had my choice as of right now, I'd go to Skye and never return. Of course, you also have to take into consideration my current mental state appears to be at -2."

"We are a race based on freewill," Erik responded, "Nyx grants us that gift."

"Yes, but there are some things you have to do whether you want to or not. I have to go to Skye and I have to return…I can't listen to what I want to do," I answered. Martyrs, I had forgotten about that little conversation with Lenobia a while back (or was it only a few days?) until I said that. Though only an unproven theory, it was just another reason as to why I had to do the right thing, it was my choice to do the right thing and not give in to what I want. I don't want to chance playing with Darkness in such a way. So I guess, with that convoluted equation, by going to Skye and coming back, I was doing what I wanted to do because I want to do what I have to do. Confusing as hell, but it does make sense when you think about it.

"You're just like the rest of that group. I still say by ignoring Darkness it'll get bored and walk away…the problem is solved."

"After knowing Neferet and seeing what she can do, you really think that's going to happen?" I snapped harshly. That's apparently a touch subject, "look at what she did tonight!"

"I wasn't here tonight, but I'll take it that she's the reason the Raven Mockers attacked?" he asked.

"I'm going to start stitching you up now. Again, it's going to hurt," Helena interrupted.

"Thanks for the warning," I mumbled and let out a snarl as she literally picked up half of my skin and put it back in place. "What do you mean you weren't here?"

"I was Marking."

"In the middle of the night?" I asked in confusion and then yelped when I felt something pierce my skin. "Damn it! Can't you numb it or something at least?" I cried, glancing back at the nurse.

"I've already given you an injection," she answered, "I don't want to give you another one."

I was tempted to ask if it was because she was a sadist, but I bit my tongue. I was already being a bitter smart ass (something I liked to think I deserved to be for a little bit after everything), no need to add more to it to the woman who was attempting to fix me. Thankfully, Erik took the liberty to answer my question. I needed a bit of a distraction.

"Yeah, in the middle of the night," he answered, "would you believe that when I Marked you, I thought I made some mistake?"

I snorted, "interesting segue, but yeah, I could see how some freakishly, purple Marked girl from your past could be considered a mistake. Why do you ask?"

He sighed, "because I think I'm cursed to forever be Marking kids in odd ways."

"Why?" I asked, "what happened to this…er…fledgling?" I added. I was going to say him or her until I realized that he never did say a gender.

"She's red, JC," Erik responded, "she has a scarlet Mark."

My eyes widened a bit, both from surprise and from pain. "Scarlet Mark, as in Stevie Rae and Stark scarlet?" I asked.

"There is no other scarlet as far as I know. Oh, and it gets stranger, she was blind…but when I Marked her she got her sight back," he further explained.

"So let me get this straight…ow!" I paused and regained my thoughts, "you Marked a blind girl…damn…and when you did so, she was a red fledgling and…ow, damn…gained her sight back?" I asked, just to make sure. Of course, the random expletives probably weren't necessary in a normal conversation.

"Yes," he nodded once.

"What's her name?" I asked quickly.

"Shaylin," Erik answered, "Shaylin Ruede."

"Shaylin Ruede, the first ever…as far as we know…Marked red fledgling," I repeated and added, mulling it over for a moment. Again, another nice distraction from the sutures going into my shoulder. "Have you contacted Stevie Rae or Z?" I asked after a moment. The former definitely needed to know about this.

"I tried…repeatedly. I called both Zoey and Stevie Rae, and then I tried to call you, but no one answered. Now that I came back here and found out about the attack, I know why. They're probably still on high alert in the car," he explained.

"I don't even have my phone on me, and you're probably right," I agreed and sucked in a breath. No, I didn't think to stuff my phone in my bra along with my iPod. For one, that probably would have given me an awkward, square shaped breast, and for two…I just didn't think to. I don't normally stuff things into random articles of clothing. Though thinking about it, my iPod was probably destroyed in the fight, which really sucked. No, it shouldn't have been at the top of my priorities, or even my thinking list, but I loved that thing. It was how I lived and kept myself sane. "We need to get in touch with Stevie Rae though, do you have your phone on you?" I asked.

"Yeah, hold on a second," Erik nodded and fished through his pockets, producing his phone and handing it to me a moment later.

"Great. Helena, are you almost done?" I asked. I knew she _wasn't_ done because I still felt that damn needle going through my skin. It still hurt a bit, I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. I was too tired and worried and in thought to think about pain, which quite honestly I didn't think was possible. Either that, or the nurse finally hit a spot in my shoulder that the numbing injection actually worked on. The latter was more plausible.

"Two more stitches to make it an even 20," Helena announced.

"What are you thinking?" the tracker asked.

"That I don't want to call Z then drop the F bomb because I'm in pain," I answered.

"That wasn't exactly where I was going…" Erik trailed off, "I meant about Shaylin and Stevie Rae."

"Oh, that makes more sense," I said sheepishly, "well, I'm thinking that since Stevie Rae, Stark, and all of the red fledglings are going to Skye…we gotta get Shaylin to Skye somehow too. And that Stevie Rae needs to know she has another fledgling."

"She's a new fledgling and you want to get her to Skye?" he asked warily.

I stared at him, "you can't _honestly_ believe that keeping her here will do an ounce of good, do you?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, I mean with Lenobia and the new guy, and you…"

"Erik, I'm not staying," I cut off his weak explanation.

"I don't see how you're going to get there," he retorted.

"Honestly, neither do I," I admitted, "but I am _sure as hell_ not staying here."

"So you are running away."

I sighed and looked down. I hadn't thought about it when he first brought it up because I knew I could brush it off and talk about other things. But now he _keeps _bringing it up. So, was it running away? I knew what the majority of the student body saw what I was doing as. And truth be told, I was scared shitless over what happened. I mean, an adrenaline high can give a good amount of courage to do some pretty stupid stuff, but once I came off of it, I realized that what happened scared me absolutely shitless. It also pissed me off greatly…seriously it was just another event going on with Darkness, just on a bit of a more extreme level. Still, it was entirely possible that my motives had shifted slightly…but quite honestly I wasn't sure, and it didn't matter. I still wanted to do what I _had_ to do. And that's how I answered, "my motives are currently clouded and I'm not going to reevaluate them right now, I'll admit that. But still, what I want and what I have to do are different, and I'm always going to want to do what I have to do because I don't want to chance what happens if I don't. The point being is that I won't be here for this red fledgling and she shouldn't stay here, not without other vampyres of her own kind to help her. Stevie Rae and the gang aren't here and I damn well won't be talking to the bad red fledglings and Dallas anytime soon."

"They still survived with Neferet and the other blue vampyres," Erik pointed out.

I stared at him for a few moments. He couldn't be serious. "You want to keep this fledgling around Neferet? Neferet, the one who _created_ this race to do her and Darkness's bidding. How? How do you see this as being a good idea?" I asked, and realized that I was being the logical one. How did that happen? How did the sleep deprived, injured, crazy girl who always pushed her limits to the limits be the logical one in this situation? It didn't make sense.

"I…don't," he admitted finally, "I really just don't want another girl I Marked oddly to have to come here and deal with some new, weird transition to another House of Night far away from here. But I don't want her to have to deal with the Darkness too. I'm just worried about her."

I really just had to ask the next question, "and you weren't worried about me?"

Erik shook his head, "no because I knew you could be enough of a bitch to handle yourself here."

"Thanks," I muttered and rolled my eyes. I would take it as a compliment, taking it as an insult would require too much energy that I just didn't have. "My case still stands that we still have to contact Stevie Rae and figure out some way to get me and this new girl out of here. Helena, are you done yet?" I asked, and admittedly it came out a bit whiny. I really wanted to be done with this. What I really wanted was to go to my room, collapse in my bed, and wake up to find this night had all just been some horrible nightmare. Either that, or sleep for four days straight. Either one was acceptable.

"Actually, I am," she answered and I glanced at my shoulder. Pretty white gauze, no gross skin and stuff. I didn't even realize she did it, so the numbing injection must have finally kicked it. Well, better late than never, but it would've been nice if it actually decided to kick in when I needed it. "I'm just going to get something for you and then you can be on your way," she added and hurried out of the room.

"Yay, finally," I sighed and, now being done, called my cousin. I didn't expect her to answer, so I was pleasantly surprised when her voice came up on the other end.

"Erik, I know you called, I'm sorry for not calling you back but we're…"

"Actually, JC, I stole his phone," I cut in quickly.

"JC! Where the hell are you?" Zoey exclaimed almost instantly.

Ok really, how stupid of a question was that? They only, you know, left me at the House of Night. "I'm on the moon. Where the hell do you think I am?" I retorted.

"For all I know you could have gotten a ride. You're still at the House of Night then?" she asked.

"Yeah, I got injured, the likelihood of me getting a ride is slim to none," I answered.

"My Goddess, are you alright?" she asked.

"Well…" I paused a moment, "20 stitches in my shoulder from a Raven Mocker. Take it as you will. That's actually not why I'm calling though, is Stevie Rae around?" I asked, changing the subject quickly. The last thing I wanted to go through was talking about the attack and my injury. It was finally fixed, let that be the end of it.

"Yeah, we're going to have to be getting on the plane soon though," my cousin answered and I heard the phone shifted. I did the same as I handed the phone back to Erik. Hey, he could explain the situation better than me!

"Hey Stevie Rae…no, JC handed the phone to me. Yeah, we have a bit of a problem…well, I Marked a fledgling and she's going to be yours…I mean she has a red crescent…no, I don't know how it happened, it just did. Her name's Shaylin Ruede…yes we both realized this and no, we don't know how we're going to work it out yet…we intended to…then get on the plane! One of us will call you when we figure out what's going on…ok, bye." It's always fun getting one side of a conversation, though I had a feeling I knew what was going on.

"The girl can talk quickly and like no tomorrow. Basically, she knows, and we have to figure out a way to get Shaylin to Skye, oh, and to keep her away from Neferet as much as possible," Erik told me and put his phone back.

"Hopefully," I blew out a breath, "we get me to Skye, we'll get her to Skye. So really, how we get me to Skye is the question. The Neferet equation should be pretty easy, especially if she doesn't know about Shaylin. She's typically too busy with all her evildoings to notice a new student unless they're in class or someone told her."

"That's a question you're going to have to answer later," Helena announced, breezing back into the room. She handed me a pill bottle and I looked at it, "they're painkillers. Take two and get some sleep…and if you don't do this I will hover over you every second until you do," she warned.

I let out a sigh and looked at the pill bottle. "I'm really not going to get out of this now, am I?" I asked rhetorically and got two pills out of the bottle. I popped them and downed them dry (an awesome skill I developed from unknown sources)…but they were bitter and I wound up chugging a glass of water to get the taste out of my mouth anyway. "Thinking about it, I probably should have asked this beforehand, but what are the side effects?" I asked.

"If you don't go right to sleep, you'll probably get loopy. For vampyres, that's really it," Helena answered.

"Another thought, why couldn't I have just used the awesome power of blood?" I asked. The side effect, even if it was just loopiness, was probably one worse than blood would be.

"While blood can make you feel better and restore your energy, it isn't going to help with pain…like painkillers. And judging by your shoulder and reactions, you're going to be in pain," Erik answered for the nurse and stood up. "You should probably get back to your room now and get that sleep," he added and I nodded, carefully hopping off the cot.

"Again, I have to say thanks to you, Helena," I added before I left.

"It's my job. Now, this time can you promise no more injuries?" she asked.

I chuckled a bit, "no can do. I mean, last time I _almost_ did that, I got this," I pointed to my shoulder.

Helena sighed, "fair enough. So long as you are here tomorrow, as I suggest you are, come see me. I want to check on you, and give you blood. Another issue is we are running low, it will help in the healing process, but you will be okay for tonight," she explained.

I nodded in response and then followed the tracker out of the infirmary with a slight wave to Helena. Once outside I paused, remembering that Lenobia still wanted to see me. "I should probably go see Lenobia…"

"You should probably go to bed like Helena suggested," Erik cut me off, "you don't want her on your tail…and the last thing _you_ need to do is go to Lenobia and have the painkillers kick in. I've seen you loopy before, it isn't pretty."

I opened my mouth to retort and then shut it, realizing he was right, me being loopy isn't pretty at all. Probably amused everyone around me because when I'm loopy, I'm _so_ out of it and _so_ stupid…sot it really just wasn't pretty. "Ok, fine, that's a very good point. I should probably get to bed before I get high off of these," I agreed and turned toward the dorms, "wait…where is this new fledgling?" I asked suddenly and turned back. That probably was some important information.

"Coming," he answered, "she'll be here soon. I'll meet her when she gets here and…figure something out from there I guess."

"So, you've got this?" I asked.

"I'll be ok, just go. You being here and getting stupid isn't going to help me in any way," Erik said and brushed me off.

"Fine, so long as you can handle this," I muttered and turned away, "good night, Erik," I added and started off.

"Night, JC, get better," he called after me.

I walked through the dorms and up to my room, happy that the majority of the girls were already in their rooms and not in the common room. I didn't feel like going through uncomfortable, death glaring part two. So I was quite happy to get to my room with no incident.

Walking in, Gwen was already curled up in her bed and I noticed both Quinn and Duchess still here. Really, I hadn't thought about them during the attack at all, and I felt guilty. It was nice knowing they were both alright, even though I wished they were with the others. Or Duchess being with Damien and the others at least.

"_I was hoping you had gotten in the Hummer when it left,"_ Quinn mirrored my thoughts, startling me. I thought she was asleep, and looking at her in the bed she didn't move, but apparently she was still up. "_Gwen informed me otherwise."_

"_Shit happens,"_ I responded simply and let out a giant yawn. Shit happens, that pretty much explained the entire night right there. "_I have painkillers in me, allegedly I'm going to get loopy. I'm going to sleep,"_ I announced.

"_For right now, fair enough. Tomorrow, we are talking about everything_," my dog informed me.

"_Tomorrow,"_ was all I said as I fell face first onto my bed. I let out a strangled groan into my pillow as my shoulder contacted the mattress. Numbing stuff wore off, painkillers not quite kicked in, I was in limbo zone. Shifting, I pulled the blankets over me with my good hand (which was actually my bad, bandaged hand…but it wasn't the one attached to my newly reconstructed shoulder, therefore it was the good one) and rested on my right side…I was out in a matter of minutes. Yes, I was sleeping in the dress I went to the ritual in and the one that was now dirty and bloodied. Yes, it was really disgusting. No, I could not have cared any less. I was exhausted and I was in pain…hygiene suffered because of that.

I felt myself pulled into dream world almost instantly (one of those moments when right before you fall asleep you just _know_ you're going to dream…we all have 'em) and found myself in a garden. I found myself in the same black dress I was in after Rephaim's Marking and thought it was going to be a meeting with Goddess. I mean no disrespect to Nyx, but what does a girl have to do to get some good, solid, not weird and Otherworldly sleep around here?

Looking around though, something was off. Turning around, I saw the black winged dude and groaned. "This is all just some drug induced dream…and now that I realize it, I will wake up and/or he will go away," I told myself, rubbed my eyes, and turned back. He was still there watching me, "fuck."

Turning fully around, I decided to just face this now and walked a bit closer to him. "I suppose after the incident with Stark I should have expected this to happen sooner or later. What do you want, Kalona?" I asked immediately. Cut to the chase, get out of the dream, actually get some good sleep. Nice theory, but easier said than done.

"Oh Wa-ya," he said and smiled, taking a step closer to me, "you are a feisty one, I will admit."

Well I knew this game all too well…and I was not playing it. That seductive edge to his voice pushed me over the edge, meaning my rage output mode was officially activated…but hey, it made sense to throw all my anger and frustrations out on the guy who had a hand in the attack, right? "Ok, first off, hell to the no," I said and took a step back, "there is only one person in this world who can call me Wa-ya…and it is _definitely_ not you. Goddess, I don't even want you calling me JC, so it's Jennifer to you, that's _all_ I will respond to. Second off, if you're going to try that little seductive crap that works on other girls…just stop it right now. I'll tell you for a fact I won't fall for it, actually, if you try it, I will tear you apart, starting in the lower mid-region." I probably should have just said balls, but the point got across just fine.

Kalona watched me with mild amusement written on his face. "Well, _Jennifer_, you seem to be quite angry, pity…I was hoping to catch you in a better mood," was all he said.

"No dipshit, Sherlock…you think I'd be happy after you and your sons attacked the school?" I asked in disbelief, "one of your sons broke my friend's leg, another ripped up my shoulder, countless others hurt other students. Our death count is up to four I believe and you think I would be in a better mood?" I growled lowly and my hands (both of which were okay in this realm) unconsciously clenched into fists.

"The attack cost me as well, three of my sons were killed by you and your peers," he responded.

"Yeah…but-oh, you know what? Never-mind, there's no point in arguing with you because I'm just going to get more frustrated as we go in circles," I huffed and crossed my arms, "so again I'll ask, what are you doing here, Kalona?"

"You tell me, this is not my dream and I did not call to you. This is of your creation, Jennifer," Kalona answered.

"Impossible, I didn't use my powers so that isn't right," I responded. Or did I? Maybe I did…I really didn't know anymore.

"Then I don't know how we got here, because it was not on my own accord," he shrugged. For some reason, I believed him. I don't know why, actually no…I do know why I believed him. In my opinion, he was way too pompous to deny doing something that made someone uncomfortable or put them in pain. He'd be bragging about it if he actually pulled me here.

I let out a huff and looked around a moment. "So, there is nothing you want me for?" I asked…and in a way that would be comforting.

"Oh no, there is a lot that I want you for. But not now, it is too soon," Kalona answered and took another step toward me. Admittedly, that wasn't the comforting answer I hoped for, and I proceeded to take another step back.

"Then why the hell are we here?" I exclaimed, choosing to ignore the creepiness of his last statement and vent my frustrations instead. Anger always seemed to be the better emotion to show over fear.

"As I told you, this is your doing, Jennifer, not mine."

That wasn't an answer…but by saying it again it triggered my mind. Guides protect their Charges spiritually. "Were you going after Zoey or Stark?" I asked and glared at him. He gave no response, and the glare he gave me in return was enough of a 'yes.' "Well, that's why we're here, unconscious affinity activation…awesome," I grumbled, "this _is_, in fact, your fault."

"I don't follow…" he stated.

I snorted, "as you very well shouldn't. I'm getting you out of here now," I added and looked to the sky for a moment. I didn't know if my affinity would actually work in the Otherworld, but I certainly hoped it would. "Spirit, come to me. Please send Kalona back to his own body and keep him there, meaning he is not to invade others' souls or dreams," I ordered and turned back to the immortal.

Nothing happened for a moment and Kalona started toward me. "You can't honestly believe that your affinity could do such a thing to me," he laughed and I shrunk back slightly. I didn't know what he wanted to do to me...and yes, I was concerned about his powers in this world. Or any world for that matter, he _was_ an immortal. Still, I had faith in Spirit, and thankfully so since it did actually wind up pulling Kalona out of my dream. I guess when you're in the Otherworld made of Spirit…it gives you a strength boost.

"Thank you Spirit," I sighed in relief, straightening up since he was gone, "now, if you could just give me a good night's sleep, I would be happy."

The area started to grow fuzzy right before I was launched into the dark of sleep. That was only for a moment though, because I found myself in another dream when a white hot, searing pain was going all throughout my body. I let out a cry and forced my eyes open for a second before I was forced to shut them again from the sheer heat and bright light in my face. Was this…was I on fire? Dear Goddess I was suddenly on fire! What the hell? This is so not normal sleep, Spirit!

"This is the last time they live," I heard a woman say. I didn't know who she was because I couldn't open my eyes, but I knew she was talking about me…and us. Well, actually I didn't know who 'us' was either, but she was talking about many people. "This is the last time such a power can threaten us."

"They weren't threatening us!" another woman cried out, "stop this madness this instant! This is my isle and I demand it!" she shouted.

"I _am_ stopping the madness," woman number one said coldly, "the last are dead and the threat is officially gone with this High Priestess. That is all that is needed. If you cannot see that, then you are no leader for this House of Night," she said and I faintly heard footsteps above the crackling of my own skin. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I found the talking around an apparent burning body darkly humorous. I'm just twisted like that.

Woman two was still there. "I am so sorry, Nevma," she whispered brokenly. Nevma, where was Nevma? "I didn't think such evil could exist in the world, much less in my home, until it was too late. I am so sorry-"

And then there was a white ceiling. My eyes were wide open as I jolted awake and looked around. I was in my room again, but the memory of that dream was so prominent. I could still feel the fire burning my entire body and still hear the women's voices, the hatred and the sadness. Plus, a buttload of emotions were flowing through me, from sadness over a loss, anger at what happened, pain for being wronged, fear for everyone else…every bad emotions that could be thought of I was experiencing in some way or another. And the best part? _None_ of it made any sense at all.

Grabbing a pillow, I pulled it over my face and started silently crying. In pain, exhausted, frustrated, angry, sad, fearful, and confused…crying was about the only thing left for me to do (aside from breaking things and/or people…which we'd seen enough of for one night I decided), and it was the first (and last) time I would admit that.


	3. Stuck

**A/N: READ ME! I am SO sorry about this. Life decided to be...well...life and throw me a crapload of stuff all at once. Plus, since the big Valentine's Day and all the cute couples and all that romantic crap, my mood has swung towards wanting to write romance and fluff, which is most definitely not this at the moment. But because of this, I'm willing and wanting to do a couple of fluffy one-shots that you guys want to see (because I seriously have no idea on where to start AND I'm here to serve). This'll go for any plausible couple (whether canon or not) that is public knowledge (meaning that yes, because of Haunted Houses, JC/Skylar can be in the mix and because of some history given, JC/Erik can be as well if you really want them to be) and goes for any situation aside from lemons (just haven't had my hand in writing them in a while. Let's just say I intend to practice in other ways, heh). Just say if you want to see any couple in some kind of situation or something along those lines in a review/PM and I'll pick a few to work on.**

**I dunno, I feel like every once and a while, authors need a fluff dump. I guess this is my mind telling me I need one now.**

**Disclaimer: Would you believe that nothing, aside from the plot, up until JC's POV is mine? Well, it's true...none of it is mine. Arnold belongs to ukrainianelfhorse...and everyone else belongs to the Casts.**

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><p><strong><span>Aurox's POV<span>**

I had witnessed the chaos that occurred during the rituals. It was horrifying, but at the same moment I wanted to join in with the Raven Mocker beasts and help in whatever ways I could. I was excited and I could feel power starting to course through my body, I was ready to jump into the action.

That was when Priestess came and ordered me not to. I had no choice but to obey and we stood side by side watching the madness. I noted Zoey Redbird and her circle were in danger and I had the sudden, strange urge to protect her. Zoey was in trouble and all I wanted to do was run through everything going on, scoop her up in my arms, and run out of the area with her.

But I had no choice to do so. However, I watched with mild interest as JC spoke with her and Aphrodite and then ran out of the circle into the fight. That was how I knew they would be safe. Jennifer was always a family oriented person, and she had finally grown out of her shyness. She had matured greatly and I was relieved and proud at the same moment.

It did occur to me that I should not have known or felt any of those emotions. It made no sense that I had these thoughts, but I did. I could not act upon them as that would be against Priestess's order, but the urge was great and hard to ignore at times.

After the fight, Neferet ordered me back to her room to wait and I obliged. However, I walked into the room and came to find the winged man, Kalona, waiting as well. I was confused and curious. "Why are you here?" I asked as I walked in.

Kalona turned around to look at me and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked in return.

"My name is Aurox. Priestess ordered me here, why are you here?" I answered and asked again.

He seemed to debate with himself for a moment then nodded. "I wish to speak with Neferet on some matters," he explained and returned to looking out the glass door that led to the balcony.

"She is out tending to duties. I do not know what duties or when she will be back," I told the immortal.

Kalona let out something that resembled a snort and a laugh and nodded again. "Very well, Aurox, I will wait for her here," he said.

Unsure of what to do, I let him stay and resumed waiting for Priestess like she had asked. It did not take long for her to return, and she seemed surprised to find Kalona in our house as well.

"Well, Kalona," Priestess said after she came in and saw him, "I wasn't expecting you. I hope you are coming out of good intentions."

"I just want to talk," Kalona answered and turned to look at her, "you are content with the results of tonight?" he asked.

"While hard to do with my careful planning, it turned out better than I expected. Though the circle escaped, that little Spirit brat is still here and the magick she was performing is now to blame for your sons' attack," Priestess answered with a small, wicked smile.

"As I hoped you would be. I lost three sons," he responded evenly, but there was a flicker of pain that crossed his face. Losing his sons, even if they were Raven Mocker beasts, hurt him.

Priestess shrugged it off. "Casualties are to be expected in war, I figured you would know this," she answered and the Darkness became more prominent around her.

"I do, but I don't appreciate casualties when I am doing a favor for another," he answered quickly.

She snorted, "you do me no favors, Kalona, you do your orders from me. Besides, why do you come to me for this? Do you know who _actually_ killed your sons?" she asked and smirked.

Kalona faltered a moment, "I do not. And I have a feeling I will not like the answer."

"Rephaim, your former favorite son, killed one of his own brothers. Jennifer, his High Priestess, and I use the term loosely, killed another in her attempt to save her roommate's love," Priestess paused and rolled her eyes, "and Zane, one of our students, killed your third."

Emotions flooded the immortal's face and he looked away. "You've managed to turn brother against brother," he muttered finally.

"I have done no such thing. However, the Kalona I once knew would be outraged and swear revenge on his sons' murderers," Priestess commented slyly.

Kalona let out something akin to a growl and turned back to her. I stiffened in response, ready to attack, but Priestess did not seem concerned, "when you knew me, my son was not fighting for the Goddess and did not kill his own. I will not exact revenge on him, no matter what position he is in."

"A family man, how sweet," Priestess responded sarcastically, "what of the others?"

"If what you say is true, and Jennifer is Rephaim's High Priestess, I shall do nothing to her. Harming her shall harm him in turn. I do applaud your attempt to get me to do your bidding," he sighed, "as for the boy, Zane, I shall see to him. Tell me, since you seem to know, how were they killed?"

"You truly are a masochist," she said and grinned wickedly, "Rephaim had a knife on him. He was protecting Stevie Rae. JC and Zane managed to do enough damage with their fists. None were quick deaths obviously, your sons are near immortal."

Kalona sighed again, but I noticed the Darkness around Priestess and him swell. "Very well, he shall be dealt with accordingly. Not right away, but accordingly," he promised.

"Good. I have one other matter to discuss with you, and that is pertaining to Jennifer. Have you spoken to her yet?" she continued to press for information.

"Of yet, no. I shall work on that, actually, I shall try to do so tonight. It should be interesting to try and talk to one of my sons' killers," Kalona announced and turned to look out the glass door again, "I should be going if this is planned."

"Go, I have other matters to tend to myself," Priestess ordered, "but you should not go out through the campus ground. It is too soon after the attack. Report back to me when you have everything completed."

The immortal said nothing in response to her order, just left through the back without a word. He reminded me of a beaten puppy. He had no choice in the matter, Priestess had demand over him no matter what. Priestess soon followed after him and I was left alone and forgotten in the apartment. Darkness swirled around once again and it was unsettling paired with the conversation I just witnessed.

I watched it with mild, frightened curiosity and saw it bloat with power. There was something more to that conversation. Knowledge was passed between Kalona and Priestess through Darkness and I did not know what it was. All I knew was that, whatever was planned, was not good news for Light. Meaning it was not good for Zoey Redbird and her group.

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><p><strong><span>Zoey's POV<span>**

Well that was hell. A collective sigh of relief came when we were finally told our plane had landed and opened up for us to get on. It meant we would all finally be safe from the crap that happened back at the House of Night and we didn't have to be quite so on high alert like we all were in the Hummer. Actually though…not all of us were out of the woods yet.

20 stitches in her shoulder, a new red fledgling that was actually Marked by a tracker, and probably countless other injuries that we didn't know about, all of them were still back there. None of them would be safe from that…they were still there with Neferet. Neither Erik nor JC gave any indication that the Raven Mockers were still around though. That was at least some relief for them and it was nice to get in touch with the two of them to make sure they were alive.

I sighed and sunk deeper into my plane seat, listening to my friends talk. Stevie Rae was attempting to console Rephaim. He had killed a Raven Mocker during the fight, and though he understood it was to protect Stevie Rae (his duty on nearly all levels now), it hurt him to know that he had killed his own brother. Damien had settled into his seat across from me and Stark and was gazing out the window, it was probably best not to disturb him. The Twins were sitting in the back and still quietly bickering over what they should and shouldn't have packed and Aphrodite and Darius were up front being all lovey dovey. Not exactly something I wanted to listen in on.

The red fledglings were scattered throughout the plane and were either talking or falling asleep. We all probably should've done the same, but I had way too much stuff on my mind. "I should probably call again before the plane takes off," I muttered and reached for my phone in my carry on.

"And what good is that going to do?" Stark asked and looked at me, "even if something was going wrong back there, what can we do? The plane is leaving in a couple of minutes, we can't go back."

"I know…" I admitted and put my phone back in the bag pocket, "I'm just worried that something else went wrong."

"Oh trust me, I know what you're feeling," he chuckled, "but seriously, how much is going to change in a time span of 15 minutes from when Erik and JC last spoke to us? You know everyone back there can handle themselves."

"Again…I know but…"

"No buts, you need to calm yourself down and get some sleep. We all do, in fact that's probably what JC is doing right now," he ordered.

"Ok, alright," I relented. My Guardian was right, we all needed some rest and worry-free relaxation. "But you need to do the same," I added and looked at him.

"Yeah, I know, once the plane gets going I will," Stark agreed and grabbed my hand.

"Good," I nodded and we didn't speak until the plane took off. After it leveled off, my eyes closed without warning and I was enveloped in sleep.

I soon found myself in a beautiful garden in the same, white buckskin dress I was in when I first met Kalona. Great, here we go again. I saw him standing about 10 feet away from me in the typical black pants no shirt getup. After the incident with Heath, nothing he tried to do worked on me anymore, and I was coming to be annoyed.

Luckily, and a bit strangely, I heard a wolf's howl in the distance and the image quickly faded. I could only guess that JC was beginning to learn her powers, even however many miles away we were from one another. After that, I fell into a deep, no dream sleep for pretty much the rest of the plane ride.

"Z, Zoey, c'mon mo bann ri, we're 15 minutes out." Stark's voice penetrated my mind and I opened one eye and let out a groggy groan in question. "We all have to get up," he repeated.

"We're 15 minutes out already?" I asked and rubbed at my eyes, "I _slept_ the entire plane ride?" I asked, more awake now at that fact.

"We all did for the most part," Stark said and nodded, "but yeah, you did. You needed it just as much as the rest of us."

"So, you slept too?" I asked. Sure, it was a lot of questions, but ever since our last trip here he hadn't been sleeping. Jen said she would try to do something about it and maybe she had now. I was convinced she did with my dream thing with Kalona. The only issue was that she probably could've used the rest just as much.

"I did actually," my Guardian answered and grinned a bit. Looking over him, he did seem a bit…well…better. He didn't have giant bags under his eyes and he didn't look _nearly_ as pale as usual. He seemed to have the energy too.

"Well good, you definitely needed it too," I agreed and rested my head back against the seat. Honestly, airplane seats weren't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world. It was surprising that I managed to sleep for the majority of the entire plane ride, but I was pretty dang tired.

"Hey Z?" I glanced up to notice Stevie Rae had gotten up and came over to us. "Do you think when we get to the Isle of Skye I can use your phone to call your cousin?" she asked.

"Sure," I shrugged, "but she's probably sleeping right now. I mean, I don't think she'll be too happy about it. Is it important?"

"We have a 15 to 20 minute drive back to the new House of Night. And yeah, it kinda is…I wanna talk to her about the new fledgling," my BFF answered.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just remind me when we get to Skye," I nodded and glanced back to her seat, "how's Rephaim?"

"Finally asleep for the past couple of hours," she sighed, "he's beatin' himself up over the death. None of us even knew what he did 'til he brought it up. He was just protectin' me and us in the circle. When I finally got it through to him that JC did the same thing and the Goddess would not be angered, he calmed down some. He's still got a close connection with his daddy though."

Stark and I looked at each other a moment. "He does know that Kalona is our enemy right?" he asked what was on both our minds.

Stevie Rae let out another sigh and nodded, "yeah…but he's still Rephaim's daddy and they've got that connection. I wanna get Rephaim out of it, but I dunno how. He's not listenin' to me in that regard."

I smiled a bit at her to reassure her, "well right now, all that's important is that he saved you and we're all away from that for a bit. Time will help hopefully," I responded, "now you should probably go wake him up. Everyone seems to be getting up now."

"Goddess I hope so. And yeah, I will, thanks Z," she nodded and went back to her seat.

"We've got a lot of weird shit going on," Stark commented after a moment.

I laughed at the bitter truth of that. "Yeah, but hopefully the Goddess is still with us," I agreed and stopped as the pilot announced we were landing.

"It's absolutely gorgeous," I heard Damien say from across the row. He was looking out the window as the plane was starting to land. "I can see why you would never want to leave," he added and glanced to us.

I nodded, "yeah, sadly we can't stay here forever," I sighed and turned to look out the window too. Forgetting that I had it on, I jumped when I felt the seer stone warm on my chest. We were definitely back on Skye, and the stone knew it as much as we did.

"Eventually, maybe," Stark shrugged and pecked me quickly. The plane had landed and he tugged my hand, "now let's get our stuff and get going to the House of Night. Like Stevie Rae said, we've got another 15 or 20 minute ride to get there," he said.

All of us got out of the plane and collected our stuff rather quickly when we got into the airport. Goddess we must have been a sight to see too. I mean, 20 or so vampyres and fledglings of varying colors and varying Mark lengths…yeah that was an interesting sight for sure. We got quite a few stares as we walked through the airport, but surprisingly none were excessively mean or anything, just curious and a bit confused. Already the Isle of Skye was better because there didn't seem to be any prejudice.

"Zoey, do you believe he is the one to take us back?" Darius asked and pointed to a vampyre standing in the corner. He had longish, blonde hair in a ponytail and a completed Mark with eagle wings.

"Sgiach didn't mention anything about an escort…but since he's the only vampyre here, I'd guess so," I shrugged.

"I'm not typically one for long hair on guys…but damn!" Erin exclaimed.

Shaunee giggled a bit, "so agreed Twin, so agreed."

"Hey, Dorkamese! Shut the hell up," Aphrodite grumbled and rolled her eyes.

"He's probably a Warrior," Stevie Rae cut in before anything could be started, "either way, we ain't gonna know until we go and talk to him. So c'mon!" she said.

By now, the Warrior in question had noticed us and nodded as we started over. "Are you Zoey Redbird?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded, "yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you, I'm guessing you're taking us back to the House of Night?" I asked.

"That is what Queen Sgiach sent me for. It is a cloudy day outside, so the red fledgling and vampyres should be alright. Follow me to the car," he ordered and we did as we said.

Somehow, we managed to fit all of us and our luggage comfortably enough in the van and we were on our way. The Warrior, who had finally told us his name was Arnold Griffith, was driving and we were trying to figure out exactly what was going to be going on when we got to the House of Night in Skye. It was clearly night time for us, so most of the students would probably be asleep. And we'd probably have schedules and would be starting class tomorrow.

"It's going to be different from the last time we were here," Aphrodite pointed out, "last time it wasn't a House of Night and last time the entire isle wasn't open."

"That's a good point," I agreed, "but really that only applies to us, Stark, and Darius. It's still a castle and the Warriors are still there, it's just going to be much busier with students and who knows what else."

"So it's just another House of Night and another place to stay," Stevie Rae shrugged, "hopefully one that's gonna be better and more helpful than Tulsa with Neferet bein' all crazy there. Especially for Rephaim and Aphrodite," she added.

"And JC," Rephaim added and I sighed. He looked at me in confusion for that and I met his eye.

"I don't know if or when she's going to be able to get here…and neither does she," I admitted, "she got stuck in Tulsa and right now…there is no way to get here. We're going to have to explain that to Sgiach too."

"But Sgiach knows all about what is going on already," Stark said.

"Yes, but even we don't know about what really went on," Damien spoke my thought, "we know what happened, but we don't know how or why Neferet did it, and we don't know the repercussions that will go with it. That's what is important with the events that happened and we know nothing of it."

He said it better than I ever would, and I nodded in agreement, "what Damien said."

"So we gotta figure that out," Stevie Rae twanged, "that can't be too hard can it? That's gotta come out pretty soon with Neferet being…well…her."

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed, but I had gotten back to thinking about my cousin trapped in Tulsa again. She had to come up with something to get here for sure.

For the remainder of the ride we just talked about what we thought would happen now that we were at Skye and away from Tulsa for a bit. We seemed to come to the agreement that being away from Neferet would mean that our lives would finally calm down some…which was a really nice thought. I could use another break, and the others could probably use a break more than me. Arnold remained quiet during the drive.

We didn't even need to go through the gate in order to get in, the castle just came into view. We all got out excitedly and followed after the Warrior into our temporary home. He brought us to the main room of the castle and bowed formally before Queen Sgiach who was already there.

"They have arrived, I know you wished to speak with them," Arnold said.

Sgiach nodded, "very well, thank you Arnold. You may go," she said and he left the room. She then turned to us and smiled, "Merry meet, Zoey Redbird, it is such a pleasure to see you again…even under these circumstances."

I grinned back. "Merry meet, Queen Sgiach, it's great to be back here…especially as a fully functioning school!"

"Yes, well I am glad that I received the permission to do so. I forgot the joy it is to teach other students beside Warriors," she said, "this is your group coming as well I see. Wait…" she paused and frowned a bit, "you are missing one it seems. Where is the girl I spoke to on the computer, the new Spirit vampyre?"

"Your Highness," Aphrodite stepped forward and bowed a bit. She paused for a moment then motioned for Rephaim to come with her, "right now, JC is stuck back in Tulsa. We had an incident with the Raven Mockers and she did not come with us in order to help the students back there."

"So she has not come?" the queen asked.

"As far as we know, she is trying to find a way. Of right now, no, we are the only Spirit fledglings here," Aphrodite answered.

Queen Sgiach sighed and shook her head, "Darkness stopped her. Goddess bless her and everyone there, and I would like to talk about this tomorrow. Zoey, Aphrodite, and…" she paused and looked at my best friend.

"Oh! Stevie Rae, your Highness," she said and bowed formally.

"Stevie Rae," Sgiach smiled, "you, Zoey, and Aphrodite are to report to me tomorrow with any Warriors you may have. There are many matters I wish to discuss with you. You all look exhausted right now," and despite the like, 20 hour plane ride that most of us slept on, jet lag caught up fast, "my Warriors will escort you to your rooms. There will be class schedules there. Meet me here tomorrow, and until then, good night." And just like that, she disappeared out of the room and two Warriors appeared a moment later. She had a plan for absolutely everything, which was awesome and sometimes surprising.

Taking that as our cue, we followed after them, and 25 minutes later, everyone was situated in their rooms properly. It was nice because there were no separate dorms, so the girls who had Warriors were allowed to stay with their Warriors, meaning Stark and I got a room together. Everyone else without a Warrior was paired with the same gender, but right next door could be a room of boys or something along those lines.

"So you're happy to be back here?" Stark asked after we had both changed out of our clothes and grabbed something more comfortable from our luggage.

"Yes and no. Skye is beautiful and I love it here, but I don't want to be here for these reasons," I answered and sat down on the bed.

"Good enough," he said after a moment, "things may calm down some so we can actually deal with it."

"Maybe," I agreed.

"Plus," Stark continued and his voice got a bit huskier. That, and looking over to him, he had his cocky grin on full blast, "we had some great times here. Maybe we can find the grove again." I didn't get a chance to respond since he leaned in and kissed me.

It was just starting to get heated when someone knocked on our door. Stark didn't seem to notice, or care because he kept on going with his tongue in my mouth, but I remembered that Stevie Rae had wanted my phone, and that was probably her.

"She wanted this," I mumbled and pulled away, grabbing my phone off the table and answering the door.

"I've never understood how you girls can stop…just like that," Stark grumbled but sat up on the bed anyway.

"I ain't interrupting nothing am I?" Stevie Rae asked as I handed her my phone.

"Nothing that can't be restarted," I answered before my Guardian got the chance. I knew he'd have some snarky retort ready for that.

"Good," she said and fumbled with my phone a bit before finding my cousin's number and calling it.

"As I said, I can't promise anything with her being awake," I restated.

"She's already picked up. Hey JC!"

* * *

><p><strong><span>JC's POV<span>**

I hate sleep. There, I said it. Sleep (of _all _things) is my new, natural enemy. I have powers that I can't seem to control, I'm being judged and prosecuted for a variety of reasons by the majority of my peers for something I didn't actually do, and then sleep goes and decides that it's going to evade me entirely and make me an insomniac from some crazy assed dreams making no sense. It'd been nearly three weeks since this all started with my initial illness, it was truly an amazement that I was still up and on my feet. Seriously, all I wanted was for that one issue to be fixed. I could worry about everything else if I weren't in a crazy, sleep deprived state of mind!

Since the weird 'on fire' dream and being done crying my frustrations out (which didn't actually _do_ anything but make me puffy eyed and snotty), I just lied in my bed and shifted between staring at the white ceiling and staring at the blackness when I shoved my head into a pillow. It gave me time to think if anything. What happened last night with the Raven Mockers and Neferet was a game changer, at least for me. Neferet would stop at nothing to get what she wanted and thought she needed no matter what the cost…and that was unnerving because she could do _a lot._ Plus, the new information I learned yesterday from snooping around her office had come back to the front of my mind.

She knew about my mother and brother…I sure as hell didn't like that. Granted, I didn't want Neferet knowing anything about me at all, her knowing about the crash was pretty much the absolute worst thing for her to know about me. Then of course there was Gwen and those weird notes. My roommate was more powerful than we thought, than maybe even _Gwen_ knew herself, and Neferet knew…and she wanted to get at that power. Enough to the point that she knew she could use Maggie against my roommate in order to try and get to it somehow.

That's when my half functioning mind maybe put two and two together. The Raven Mockers went after Maggie. Neferet had that information about the two. She very easily could have told the creatures to go after Maggie…either to break Gwen with the death or, if she saw it, freak her out enough to get another power to breakthrough. Maybe I was being paranoid, maybe I was overthinking it, I had a tendency to do both…but either way it brought about a good point that those two and Neferet's actions towards them needed to be watched. I'd see to it that that would happen.

About maybe three hours later, my mind finally started slowing down and my body and physical state were taking over. Of course though, right when my body finally did overpower my mind and I started dozing off…my phone started ringing.

Groaning, I reached over and grabbed my phone on the table. "Hey Z," I answered groggily, attempting to clear the fog from my brain and from my eyes. It wasn't working too well.

"Hey JC! It's Stevie Rae actually!" Stevie Rae's Okie twang came over the phone instead, "were you sleeping?"

"No, I just typically sound like this," I muttered and rubbed my eyes. Then, realizing what I just said, "sorry. Yeah, I was just dozing off again. It's been a long night…day, whatever. What's up? Are you guys there?"

"We just got here safely and got situated," she said and got right to the point, "I wanted to talk about this new red fledgling."

"I uh…haven't exactly met her yet so I don't know how much of a help I'm gonna be," I answered.

"I know, and that's alright. I just wanna make sure she was actually Marked."

"Well, so long as Erik is a tracker…then yeah, she was Marked. No one died by the Change in the past couple of days as far as I know," I answered.

"By the Change?" Stevie Rae asked warily.

I sighed, "we had a death count of four. Three fledglings and a vampyre cook who got caught up in the fighting."

"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.

_Yup, and I'm considered the murderer by most_. "Yeah, as I said, long night. What's up about the red fledgling though?" I asked.

"It's just weird about how she was Marked. There are a few red fledglings on Skye I've noticed, but based on what we've all heard, they all rejected the Change and came back just like us…she really was the first one Marked," Stevie Rae told me.

"Lots of things are weird these days, what else is new?" I asked rhetorically in response. "Is that all?" I switched the subject and asked a bit desperately. Sleep, rest, really I just wanted to go back to lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Maybe I would wind up dozing off again. Ok, _hopefully_, if everything was willing, I would doze off again.

"Well I guess," she said and made a small humming noise, "that's all I got. Oh! Zoey wants to know about you and what's goin' on with your mess."

"I don't know yet," I sighed, "if or when I get that info I'll call you guys. Until then, I'm staying here, I don't have any choice," I answered.

"Alrighty, that sucks a lot for you, but alrighty. Call us when you got something. Bye JC."

"Bye," I muttered and turned my phone off before flopping back onto my bed. My eyes drifted shut for a moment before, this time, there was a pounding on the door.

I pulled the pillow over my head and groaned. "Whoever you are, go the hell away!" I shouted but it came out muffled and quiet because of the pillow. The knocking didn't stop and I heard someone calling for us on the other side. With another groan, I tossed everything aside and got up, going to the door.

"Damn, you look like death warmed over," Maggie commented when I opened the door. Granted, with her wrapped up leg and crutches, she didn't look _that_ much better, "and did you _really_ sleep in that last night?"

"Damn near close," I grumbled and rubbed my eye, "and let's just say that I didn't care what I was in when I got back last night. Yes, I know it's disgusting, but that's not the point. What's going on?" I asked, "something wrong?"

"No, I ran into Lenobia when I was grabbing something to eat. Classes have been canceled for today because of last night, but she wants to see all of us in the stables…like now," she answered, "she didn't say why, but I'm going to venture to say it's about last night and/or about getting you to Skye."

"Quite possible. I need the good news right now, so let's go off of that," I agreed, "go ahead and get there with everyone else. I'll get Gwen up and I want to change out of…well…this," I said and pointed to the dirty, torn dress, "and we'll meet you there. Sound fair?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Maggie nodded and turned around, "I'll tell Lenobia when we get there. See you soon."

I shut the door and turned back, intent on waking my roommate up…only to find that all the commotion had already done that task. Gwen was sitting up in bed and blinking the sleep from her eyes, "what's going on?"

"Lenobia wants to see us, among a few other...currently less important things. I, um, may need some help though," I explained. The dress tied behind my neck and with my newly ripped up shoulder, I couldn't exactly reach to untie the double knot. That was another reason it stayed on when I got back last night.

"Help on what?"

"I need to get out of this dress," I said and pushed my hair to the side, "however, I cannot get the double knot out. Would you mind, please?" I asked.

"Yeah sure," she said and got up. A moment later I felt her hands on the straps, "I guess this dress is ruined."

That's when I was reminded that this wasn't actually mine, "yeah…I guess it is. Sorry…"

"There, it's alright. I wasn't particularly fond of it to begin with," Gwen shrugged and I felt the straps loosen then fall onto my chest.

"So that's why you gave it to me huh?" I joked and held the cloth to my chest. Carefully, I went over to the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a baggy, black shirt (yeah, probably should've gotten that together _beforehand_) before navigating my way into the bathroom and spending 8 minutes figuring out and attempting to get them on. I managed to do so, somehow, and was out of the bathroom to find my roommate already dressed and her hair pulled back.

"If Lenobia wants to see us quickly, let's go," she answered my unasked question and we walked out together, Quinn, Duchess, and Oreo following curiously after us.

No one was up yet, especially with classes being canceled I'm sure, and it was a cool night. Looking around, I noticed something that sort of made me mad, "no one even bothered to start cleaning up last night?"

Gwen sighed and glanced over to some of the messes, "they got rid of the bodies. But that's just not right," she shook her head, "nobody wants a reminder of that. Even the blood is still out there," she muttered.

"_That's just wonderful,"_ Quinn muttered as she looked as well.

I grunted in a response and we made our way over to the stable. Walking in, I noticed that all of our friends were there plus Erik and a new girl…with dark hair and a red Mark. As Gwen went to go talk with the others, I approached the tracker and new fledgling, "so I guess this is her?"

"You look like shit," Erik said in response and I snorted.

"So I've been told," I answered and smiled at the fledgling instead, "you must be Shaylin."

To answer, she stared at me silently for a few moments then, "purple and silver! And some white," she said and shuddered a bit.

"Um…?" I trailed off and looked between the two.

The tracker shrugged, "she's kind of been doing that since she's been here."

"I can see colors," she explained, "it's kind of like auras I guess. Yours are purple and silver…but there's a little bit of that milky white, like around the rest of the school. It's kinda gross. But anyway, yeah, I'm Shaylin Ruede!" she answered finally.

Wow, well alright then. This girl was more than a little scatterbrained it seemed. And how exactly does one see and decipher colors? "JC Redbird," I introduced myself in turn then spun around when I heard someone else walking through the stables. "Lenobia, there you are!"

"I didn't expect you all to get here so fast. Sorry," my mentor said immediately and looked at us all, "but I'm glad you guys got here. I do have some good news, after Erik explained what you and Stevie Rae decided, I managed to get two tickets in order to get JC and Shaylin to the Isle of Skye."

"Hallelujah!" I cried and threw up one good arm in celebration. A thousand pounds just lifted off my shoulders.

"However, it is a day plane ride on a human plane, not one for a House of Night," Lenobia added.

"We're getting there, that's all that counts," I said.

"Daylight?" Erik asked quickly, "as in sunlight…with a red fledgling?" Oh…good point.

"Per Tulsa weather, it's cloudy and a little bit snowy. Though uncomfortable, Shaylin should be fine," Gwen answered as they all huddled around us.

"Then that sounds great. So long as Shaylin is still packed, we're set to go whenever we need to," I said and grinned just a bit. This was greatly wonderful and much needed news, "when do we need to get there?"

"Within two hours in order to get through security," Lenobia answered.

"Ok, while this is all great news, what does it have to do with the rest of us?" Zane asked, leaning up against the wall. I noticed a cut closed by three stitches on his cheek and he seemed to be forming a black eye. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen him, or any of the guys, since I saw them fighting. Doing a quick look over, I noticed Luke's right forearm was covered in gauze and Harley seemed to be favoring his right side. They had been injured, but luckily they seemed to be no worse for wear in the long run.

"I wanted to see you all," the Horse Mistress answered, "to make sure you were alright and to make sure we were still at an agreement for what is going on after JC and Shaylin leave."

"We keep them all updated on Skye," Maggie shrugged, "nothing's changing on that aspect. We're still going to do that despite what happened last night." The others nodded and I smiled again. I was proud of them, and with friends like this we would be alright at Skye. That was a fact.

"Good," Lenobia nodded, "so long as we are clear on that. Things have changed with last night, and Neferet may be planning more than we thought initially…"

"It doesn't change what we are going to do however," Luke interrupted, "we promised JC and Zoey and everyone else that we would do this. And we will do it no matter what happened last night or what changes Neferet is making," he said resolutely.

"Lenobia, I may not have known them long…but they're not going to change their minds no matter what you say," I chuckled.

"Then I have nothing further to say," she responded and I saw a ghost of a smile, "JC, Shaylin, meet me in the lot in an hour and a half with your luggage, I will be driving you to the airport."

We started filing out of the stables, but there was one thing left I wanted to do. "Hey Zane, hang back for a second," I called and let everyone else get out before bringing up the rear with him. "I need a favor," I stated simply when he said nothing.

"Stressed and need a release?" he asked suggestively without missing a beat.

I glared at him and shook my head, "if you didn't have stitches I would slap you right now, just so you know. No, this is serious, it's about Gwen and Maggie," I explained.

Zane instantly sobered up, "what about them?"

"I want someone watching them and watching Neferet around them," I stated bluntly. It'd been in the back of my mind since my late night musings…and he continually came up as the best one to ask.

"Ok, what's going on with them and Neferet?" he asked after a minute.

I let out a breath and watched them ahead of us for a moment. Gwen was helping Maggie navigate on crutches since she was still a little wobbly. "It's best to admit this to someone now I guess. In order to get the information my cousin and her group wanted on Kalona, which is a whole other story, I snuck into Neferet's apartment. Yes, I know, not the smartest thing to do," I cut him off, seeing he was about to say something, "but I did it anyway and wound up finding a school roster. There's reason to believe there's more to Gwen's affinity than we know…and Neferet knows this."

"You mean…Gwen might be hiding her powers from us?"

"Gwen may not even know," I answered quickly. There was a note of hurt in his voice that didn't go unnoticed, "she's still relatively young, only a fourth former, based on everything I can understand, her affinity could still be developing…"

"True."

"So she may not know. But Neferet seems to think there's more to it…and being her crazy, bitchy self…she wants that power for herself," I said and paused to think about how to phrase my next statement, "and we know how Neferet views and gets power. Hurting Gwen can make those powers come out and…"

"One of the best ways to hurt Gwen is through Maggie," Zane said in understanding. I nodded in agreement. "Do you think that's why the Raven Mockers went after her? Because of Neferet?"

"It crossed my mind. I have no proof for it though," I responded.

"You don't need proof for that motherfucker," he muttered, "so what do you want me to do?"

"Just keep an eye on the two of them, especially Gwen and if her affinities are growing, then be there for her and help her."

"What about with Neferet?"

I sighed. What did I want him to do with her? "Try and keep her away from Gwen and Maggie. Which yes, I know is near impossible…but do the best you can. The less time she's near them, the less chance there is for one of them getting hurt or worse." Or so I really liked to believe.

We fell into a silence for a couple moments, then Zane responded quietly, "there's rumors that may not be the case anymore."

I knew that, and I hated to think about it. "Only rumors," I stated half-heartedly, "we can't get caught up in that. As I said, do your best."

He seemed to debate this before nodding, "I can do that."

I sighed in relief, "thank you. And…don't say anything about this, especially to Gwen and Maggie. For one, they wouldn't want you doing that and they'd be pissed at both of us. But also because Goddess only knows how much Gwen knows on it and I don't want to freak her out, because maybe I'm being paranoid about all of this."

"We have a right to be paranoid, but I can understand why you would want that," Zane nodded, "and I can do that."

"That's a shitload off my back, thank you," I said again.

"Hey, they're my friends too. And we're in this together," he responded with a shrug, "and shouldn't you be going to pack?"

"I need to go get ready, yeah," I nodded and turned toward the dorms, "I should go and do that. And seriously, Zane, thank you, it really…means a lot to me and lightens my load by a lot."

"For the third time, it's absolutely fine. Now go, the last thing you need to do is wind up being late to Lenobia and missing a second flight to Skye because you weren't ready," he said and motioned with his hand to shoo me off.

I laughed a bit and waved as I went back to my room. With that done and confirmed, I felt so much better with how things were going today. I mean, nothing would be perfect or fix what was going on and what happened last night, but a ray of light had shined just a little bit. Time to go get ready to catch a flight.


	4. Airport Fun

**A/N: So life kicked me in the ass. That's about the only explanation for taking so long, life honest to God kicked me in the ass.**

**To make up for it, I come bearing a long, 9000+ word chapter that I don't want to split up, editing is hard to do in this, so sorry for any mistakes. Oh, and if I get 7 reviews this week, I'll put up another chapter because I have state testing this week, meaning I won't have much homework. That is all.**

**Disclaimer: I own everyone that has been in my story and not in the original House of Night. Pace belongs to Rainbow Gumboots, Switch belongs to EJ. That is all.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>JC's POV<span>**

"So you're really leaving for good now." I looked up from zipping my bag and to Maggie and Gwen. They were both in the room when I got back, not that it was surprising.

"Something like that," I responded and closed my bag, "thankfully. I really, really love Lenobia right now."

"Yeah, you did get lucky in that respect," Gwen nodded in agreement.

"Eh, I wouldn't say luck this time," I said and scratched Quinn's ear when she came over and sat by me on the floor, "though luck has been good to me at times…and then bad in others. They're human plane tickets, they are relatively easy to get. Speed, that's what it is this time, we had speed to get them that quick. And money I'm sure…"

"Human plane? So it's not a House plane?" my roommate asked and I shook my head, "then how are you getting Quinn and Duch on the plane?"

Huh, I hadn't even thought about that. I looked to Quinn, who was looking back at me, "_and Cameron, since he's still here too. And if Shaylin has a cat?"_

Well damn it. I sighed and shook my head, "I don't know…somehow," I answered weakly and stood up, giving my side of the room a once over. There was a lot of stuff I was leaving simply because I probably wouldn't need it, my instrument, most of Quinn's stuff, some clothes, etcetera. The majority of what I needed was already packed last night, since I intended on leaving then. But I wanted to add a few things now that I had the chance to think a bit more about it.

"That sounds real convincing," Maggie commented sarcastically.

"Well, what else do you want me to say?" I asked, "I'm not just going to leave them here! Duchess and Cameron belong to Damien, not me, and wherever I go Quinn goes, there's no point in even trying to stop that. They're all vampyre familiars, and if I have to explain that then so be it, I will."

"_Glad to know that you're by our side,"_ Duchess said and I met her brown eyes.

"_It's something you'll learn quick about her with animals like us,"_ Quinn responded and I smiled, giving her another pat before choosing to sit down on the bed.

"Ok, so what about Shaylin?" Gwen asked.

"What about her?"

"What do you think of her?" she explained.

I paused, remembering the interesting meeting we had. The red fledgling in question was a strange one, but she could see auras, which was interesting and could prove to be useful. "I think she's a bit weird, not gonna lie," I admitted, "but, she has a potentially helpful affinity that hopefully Stevie Rae and/or Sgiach will know more about. I'm just gonna get my job done by getting her to Stevie Rae, the rest can be figured out later. I really don't have another plan or any reason to do anymore with her for the time being."

They both seemed to accept that and I went back to quiet contemplation over whether or not I needed to add anymore. I finally decided that I didn't and flopped back on my bed, careful of my shoulder. "Hey, can I ask you guys a favor?" I asked.

"Hm?" one of them hummed back in response.

"Will one of you wake me up when I need to be leaving? I'm basically running on no sleep again and I'd like to have a little bit before I get on the plane and jet lag begins and makes it even worse," I answered and let my eyes fall shut.

"Sure thing JC, get some rest," Gwen agreed and I felt relieved. After a few minutes, I was out like a light and I wasn't up again until my roommate shook me awake. Luckily (_thankfully_), I didn't have any weird dreams this time. I was just out…sheer sleep and nothing more, which was what I desperately needed for a bit.

When she did hold up her end of the deal and woke me up, my eyes shot open and for a second, I didn't know where I was. "It's been an hour already?" I asked with a groan once I remembered.

"Sorry to say my friend, but it has. You need to get a move on," Gwen nodded and I sat up, rubbing at my eye.

"_Hello!"_ a cheery voice greeted me and I looked down. A little tabby was staring back up at me, in between Duchess and Quinn.

"Uh…hi there," I responded and smiled a bit. The cat was adorable, and I was guessing that it was Cameron.

"_I'm coming with you! My name is Cameron, but mostly I'm called Cammy."_ Plus one for guessing skills.

"Sounds great, nice to finally meet you," I smiled a nodded before hauling myself to my feet. I glanced at the clock in the room and let out a sigh, "we should be going, shouldn't we?" I asked.

"Yeah," Gwen agreed. It was just us in the room again, Maggie apparently left at some point while I was sleeping. "Can you believe it's only been a few days since you've been here?" she asked.

Ok, it was cliché, but I definitely felt one of them roommate goodbye things coming. "With everything that's gone on? Hell no! It feels like a lifetime," I laughed and grabbed my suitcase, "and then some for that matter."

"Things have been even more interesting with you around…granted that isn't your fault," she nodded and came over to me and hugged me gently, "get there safe, alright?"

I grinned a little bit when we pulled back and I gathered my stuff, "I've been learning not to make those promises. So, no guarantee, but I'm gonna try."

Gwen laughed at that, "I guess I can take that too. Call me when you get there?"

"Now that, I can do," I nodded and headed for the door, "so, I'll be talking to you later."

"Yes, yes you will," my roommate called, "good luck, JC!"

"Thanks!" I responded and closed the door. No, I didn't expect her to walk me out to the car, she had other stuff to be doing with school and everything that happened last night. Plus, Goddess only knew what would go on out there next. After everything…nothing would surprise me anymore.

The main room was practically filled with people since everyone was off from class, and my clunking down the stairs with my suitcase attracted a good bit of attention. Hm, my first day and my last day seemed to come in similar fashion. The girls stared at me as per usual, but their faces seemed to be smug approval. They were glad to see me going, which again, wasn't surprising. I was blamed for what happened last night and they ate that blame up like no tomorrow. I was leaving and that was the end to all their problems. Yeah, you and I all wish that.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." Ugh, I should've expected _this_ to happen too.

"Well hello, Dee, come to give me a warm farewell just as you did a welcome?" I asked and rolled my eyes. Quinn was by my side and growled lowly. "_Heel,"_ was all I had to say. If I was using actual dog commands, she knew I wanted and needed her to pay attention.

Dee smirked a bit, "I suppose you could say something like that. Running away from your issues, I'll admit, I never took you as a coward, JC."

"Being a coward and following the Goddess's words are two entirely different things," I retorted.

"Neferet desires your stay, so you are definitely the coward in that statement."

I snorted, "the day Neferet is _actually_ Nyx Incarnate is the day I can ice skate in Hell. The day you brainwashed morons realize that, the better off we'll all be," I replied and attempted to shoulder my way past her. I didn't have time for this, I needed to be in the parking lot to meet Lenobia and Shaylin.

Dee had other plans as she grabbed at my injured shoulder and pulled me back. My face instantly contorted into pain and I let out a strangled yelp. Yeah, still sensitive there for sure. "Oh, I'm sorry, you were injured there! I forgot, my bad!"

"Sadistic, hateful bitch," I growled through gritted teeth. I could feel my blood pressure rising, and rising with it was Darkness. It must have gained strength in me with last night and how it was everywhere. But at that moment, looking at that victorious smirk on her face, I didn't care about that…all I wanted to do was knock that look right off her face. And I did…with my bandaged fist.

The girl staggered back, I wasn't sure if it was from me actually getting a good amount on that blow (it should have been a bit cushy only for the fact that I had bandages covering it and I was so damn tired) so that she was hurt or if she was just stunned if I did it. Hell, _I_ was stunned I let myself do that.

"I don't do bitch slaps and I don't do catfights. If you really want to take me on right now, go ahead, but I gave you that warning. Oh, and I'll give you another one," I paused and glared at her, "I am so tired, so _very_ tired, of you and your minions and all the shit you have made. You've pissed me off for good now." When she did nothing but stared at me wide-eyed, I took that as her answer, "good choice. Now, good day to you," I said, gathered my stuff and walking to the door.

"Everyone will know of this!" Dee finally shouted after me, "everyone will know that you punched me!"

They all already hated me anyways. And really, what did it matter? I was leaving anyways, I'd already suffered enough blame and hatred, what was a little more added to it? Hell, I might as well go out with a bang! I didn't dignify it with a response, just let the door close behind me as I went outside. I paused for a moment and looked around the campus grounds. People were now just starting to clean the area up and I thought I smelt a fire that just started to burn the bodies (not a fun mental image). My heart dropped a little bit and I sighed, "it shouldn't be like this," I said for probably the billionth time.

"_Eventually, it will be different,"_ Quinn said and we continued walking. "_So, should I be telling you to heel now?"_

I snickered a bit, "that was incredibly, _incredibly_ stupid, especially with so many witnesses there, but it felt so damn good to do."

"_Violence isn't always the answer,"_ Cameron piped up.

"_Trust me, in this case it was,"_ Quinn responded.

"No, he's right Quinn," I said as we got through the gate, "violence wasn't the best way to go in that situation. I'm just so fed up with her…and again, it felt good to do."

"_You're all a bunch of pacifists,"_ my dog grumbled.

I laughed a little bit at the thought of me being a pacifist as we went out into the parking lot. I mean, I didn't mind fighting…I just knew when it was incredibly stupid to do. And wasting my time and energy on Dee was stupid. I noticed Lenobia and Shaylin were already in one of the cars and I went over, opening the trunk and putting my suitcase in it. Slamming it shut, I walked to the passenger door and opened it. "Shaylin, do you mind animals?" I asked first.

The girl shook her head so I opened up the back door too. It didn't take a word for Duchess, Quinn, and Cammy to get in and I then proceeded to get in the front.

"You're taking them?" Lenobia asked as I buckled the seatbelt.

"Yeah…and yes, I know it's a human plane that doesn't allow animals on without an extra ticket. But Quinn is like my cat and Cameron and Duchess don't belong to anyone here," I answered.

"So how do you intend on getting them on the plane?" she asked and handed me concealer. I didn't think to hide my Mark or bring my own, so I took it and started to work on that.

"Um…I've determined I'm gonna figure that out when I get to it," I said.

"Didn't plan that one ahead?"

"No," I admitted honestly and smiled a bit sheepishly, "but hey, we're good on improv right? I mean…we're getting me and Shaylin there right?" I asked.

"Huh?" Shaylin asked from the back. She was in her own little world it seemed, something I had a feeling that was a common occurrence.

"I suppose so," Lenobia agreed, "have you spoken with your cousin."

"Oh, crap!" I exclaimed and grabbed my phone from my pocket. Quickly, I dialed her number and, not too surprisingly, got her voicemail.

"Hey Zo! Call me back as soon as you get this, or, I guess you can't since I'll probably be on a plane. Lenobia managed to get tickets for me and Shaylin, so we're coming up to Skye. I'm not quite sure when our arrival time is, so I'll just call you when we land. I'll see you soon cuz, bye," I left my message and hung up.

"She's either asleep or in class. I'm not quite sure which, time zones confuse me," I told Lenobia when she glanced at me questioningly.

"So you do not have anyone right now to meet with you when you land?" she asked.

Heh, nope. I looked back to Shaylin and noticed she was watching the passing scenery with obvious wonder. That's when it dawned on me that Erik said she was blind before the Marking. Goddess given sight, she'd never been able to see any of this before. "Let's just say, we're flying blindly into this. No puns intended," I answered.

My mentor let out a sigh and shook her head, "you _are_ a reckless one aren't you? I really expected you to be careful and meticulous, I really did."

"Well…I am sorta. I'm carefully reckless, does that work?" I responded and to my surprise, Lenobia chuckled. We fell into a calm silence for the remainder of the ride to the airport, which wasn't that much longer to begin with.

"You are pretty late," Lenobia announced as she pulled in, "the plane leaves in a half an hour and you still have to get through security. We're only lucky at the fact that this time may mean fast moving security lines."

"On a Wednesday morning, quite possible," I agreed and unbuckled my seat belt to get out of the car, "are you coming with us?"

I asked because when I looked back to her, she was pulling the tickets out of her pocket and handing them to me. "There is no point for me to go in as I won't be able to go past security. You're at gate 13," I snorted at the irony of a two fledglings going to gate _13_, "and it's a full flight to Scotland, no layovers or anything like that."

"I didn't know they made full flights to…wait…Scotland?" I asked. We weren't going to Scotland, we were going to the Isle of Skye. Two different places, sort of anyway.

"JC, it was all Daniel and I could find. Stark and Aphrodite got to the Isle of Skye after taking a plane, they managed a helicopter over to the Isle of Skye," Lenobia explained briefly.

I opened my mouth to say something, to voice the hundreds of issues that were going through my head. But as I thought about it, there wasn't time, and I was going to have to rely on my statement from earlier. I smirked at the situation and nodded, "going in blind. Fair enough. I don't know if I've said this yet, but thank you. Thank you for finding these tickets on such a short notice and definitely thank you for getting me out of there," I said and accepted the two tickets from her.

"I'm your mentor, JC," she responded.

"This goes above and beyond what a mentor should and would do," I stated, "and again, thank you."

"Well, you're welcome. Now you and Shaylin need to be going," she said, "let us know when you are safely there." It was an order, not a question.

"I've already promised I'd call Gwen, I'll just tell her to let you know," I nodded, "um…goodbye then, I guess."

"Bye JC, good luck with Sgiach," Lenobia nodded and I shut the door, walking around to the other side of the car.

Shaylin had already gotten both of our suitcases out of the back and she handed me mine. The dogs and Cameron were waiting patiently beside her.

"Thanks," I smiled, "now let's go before we miss our plane and get you caught in the sun," I added and started a brisk walk to the airport entrance.

"Wait!" she called and hurried after me, "I can understand missing the plane…but the sun?" she asked, coming up beside me.

Okay, she didn't know then. I figured she did. "Red fledglings tend to be…vulnerable in the sun," I answered. I didn't exactly want to scare her, especially since we would be on the plane in the sun. I already had a plan involving the window shades and an allergy to the sun (which _does _exist) for that though.

"Aren't all fledglings?"

"Well, yeah…but not to your extent," I agreed and sighed, "red fledglings typically burn if sunlight hits them."

"Oh!" Shaylin squeaked in surprise.

"Don't worry, it won't happen today, I promise," I said and smiled back to her.

With that said, we walked into the airport and started the process. Like Lenobia had hoped, it wasn't that busy on a Wednesday morning thankfully and we were through with our bags in a flash. Of course, we got some odd stares being two human teenage girls (presumably since our Marks were covered) with two dogs and a cat following after us in the airport. No one said anything though, since they probably assumed we had tickets for them, and we got through security with five minutes to spare to find our gate to get on the plane. Little time, no tickets for the animals, and no plan for such from me (I was kinda hoping Shaylin might have come up with something). This was going to be fun.

Literally running through the airport to get to our gate, we made it their on the last call. Shaylin kept up with me, or in my physical state, _I_ kept up with her, and we reached the attendant, or whatever the hell they're called, huffing and puffing.

"Tickets?" he asked in a bored manner, not at all fazed by our appearance or our entrance, and held out his hand for our tickets.

We both handed him our tickets, he checked them, nodded, and handed them back. "And for the pets?"

I grimaced and glanced at Shaylin. She seemed just as bewildered as I was and I groaned slightly. "They don't…have any," I admitted quietly and looked back to the guy.

"I can't let them bored then."

"Can't you let that rule slide just once?" I asked, resorting to beginning almost immediately. Seriously, I had no plan for this.

"No, unless you can give me a good reason for them to be on," he stated.

Because they need to be on there! "Because they're vampyre familiars!" I blurted out before my brain registered it.

"_Smooth, dear, real smooth,"_ Quinn stated behind me.

The guy just gave me a look like I was nuts and I sighed. I'd have to go with this. "Shaylin, wipe off your concealer," I said as I wiped my own off my forehead. Silently, she complied, and I turned back to look at him.

"This has to be some kind of a joke!" he exclaimed in surprise, "everyone knows that vampyres are only blue!"

"Not of late. Try all you want to wipe it off, it ain't coming off," I said, "and I'd really prefer it if you _didn't_ touch me or my friend here." Shaylin beside me nodded in agreement.

"Ok, alright," he sighed, "fine, they are vampyre familiars. But why are there three animals and only two of them?"

"The two dogs are both mine, they came to me together from the streets. The cat is hers," I lied somewhat. Quinn was mine and came from the streets, that much was true. Er yeah, ok I'm not gonna try and make that any more or better than what it was, it was a lie…I just hoped he'd fall for it.

"We're not supposed to let animals on the plane…"

"But…?" Shaylin asked and smiled a little bit.

"As vampyre familiars, we are allowed to let them on. Go, and hurry, the plane is leaving in a few minutes."

YES! Success! Shaylin and I both nodded and we hurried down the little track thingy (whatever it's called) and managed to get on the plane before they closed the door. Sure, we got some confused and dirty looks as we walked past the humans with two dogs, a cat, and blatantly obvious Marks, but we were _all_ on a plane to Skye and _nothing_ was going to take away my happiness over that.

When we reached our seats somewhere in the middle of plane (I wasn't keeping track of our seat numbers…I was way too happy to care about something as trivial as that), I paused and took a step further, "Shaylin, get into the inner seats."

She looked at me in confusion, "why?"

"Because," I stated, "you can pull the shade down on the window and you're less likely to get hit by direct sunlight, or I can block you from the direct sunlight easier if I'm on the outside."

"Oh," she nodded and then hurried into the seat.

I took a breath and then sat in the middle seat next to Shaylin. "_Ok, Quinn on the floor, Duchess in the seat, and Cameron, you can either sit with Duchess or on my or Shaylin's lap."_

_ "Why do I have to go on the floor?"_ Quinn asked and looked at me.

"_Because you're smaller and can fit down there. Look, I don't care, but either you or Duch is on the floor and the other is in the seat, end of story,"_ I ordered. I was not about to start a fight with my dog on an airplane full of humans. I'd probably get sent to the crazy house with the pretty white, padded walls. And though it was becoming more and more debatable over whether or not I actually _needed _to go there, I certainly didn't feel like going by the hands of humans for the wrong reason.

'But my dog _can_ talk!' I chortled at the thought of the interesting argument we'd have if that really happened. Shaylin gave me an odd look and I just waved it off. "_Are you guys settled?"_ I asked when I noticed that Duchess had taken the aisle seat, Quinn was situated on the floor, and Cammy had promptly sat down in my lap.

"_All set,"_ Quinn agreed and I sighed in relief.

"You know, if this comes up again, you could just say that Duchess and Quinn are service dogs," Shaylin commented from nowhere. I looked at her in confusion and she smirked a bit, "just because I can see now doesn't mean I can't still act the blind part. Duchess can be my Seeing Eye dog and Quinn can be in training…even Cameron can be mine because people just can't refuse a blind girl."

I stared at her for a couple seconds. That plan was genius! "Why didn't you suggest this earlier?" I asked. That idea would have made the little incident up front a hell of a lot easier.

"I only just thought of it…sorry," she muttered and looked away.

"Well…we're all here now so no harm no foul I suppose," I shrugged, "guess it's good to know for next time though."

Shaylin nodded in response and turned to look out the window again. I glanced at her then the skyline outside. It wasn't quite light out yet, but I could see the sky was lighting up just the slightest, indicating sunrise would be soon. "You may want to pull that down, just saying."

"But I wanna see the city when we take off! People have always told me how pretty it is but this is the first time I get the chance to actually _see_ it," she explained, not turning her attention away from the window.

I let out a sigh and nodded. I took pity on her, I really did, because on top of being Marked as a red fledgling, she could now see every ounce of the world around her and then some with her aura seeing ability or whatever it was. And on top of it all, she kind of reminded me of a child, learning stuff for the first time. "Just make sure to pull the shade down once you're done, because you won't like the results," I reminded her and settled into my seat.

My companion didn't say anything, and I found myself lost in a blank kind of state (those times when you zone out with absolutely no thoughts in your head) within no time. I didn't hear the announcement about the plane taking off and I think I stared blindly at the safety informational video without actually taking anything in, and I was literally thrown out of my state when the plane started moving. "Holy shit," I muttered out and braced myself against the back of the seat in front of me.

The guy in that seat looked back and shot me a dirty look, which I responded to by attempting to apologize. He didn't listen though, and I sat back and decided it'd be a smart idea to actually buckle myself into the seat…something that I seemed to forget about in my moments of happiness for getting on the plane. Quinn snickered at me, as she was the only one of the three awake, and Shaylin remained oblivious to the whole thing as she took in the scenes going on outside.

I let out a yawn as I settled back into my seat again and tried to keep myself calm. A quick note, I hate taking off in airplanes. I don't have any fear of flying whatsoever, and once the plane levels off in the sky I'm fine, but when it's taking off, I have a tendency to freak out since all I can imagine is it running into another plane or something failing in the takeoff gear and it crashing and burning. Seriously, aside from drowning, my worst way to die is in a fiery airplane crash that happened during takeoff.

So I sat in my seat for a while taking deep breaths and thinking happy thoughts (which mostly consisted of _Neferet_ dying in a fiery plane crash…but let's not get on that topic) and listening to Shaylin gasp and mutter about how pretty the city of Tulsa was as we took off. Overall, it helped a good deal because I didn't have a spazz attack and the plane finally leveled off, so I was in the safe zone.

"Hey JC, do they have any blankets on here?" Shaylin asked and I looked over to her and noticed she had closed off the window and was snuggled into her seat.

"It should be in the pouch on the chair in front of you," I said and leaned forward, grabbing hers and giving it to her. That's when the thought struck me. I entirely forgot about the blankets on the plane, but it could just be an added protection to the sun! "Hey, if you can cover your head with that, it'll help keep the sun off of you a good bit. Even if that means your feet aren't covered, that's alright since your head is more likely to be hit."

"Oh, good point!" she smiled a bit as she fussed with the blanket in the package, "hey, if I fall asleep and the sun hits me, am I gonna wake up, or am I just going to burn?"

"Well…seeing as though it _burns_ you," I stated, "you'll know it, as will I, and the rest of the plane based on everything I know. Don't worry, if we get to that point, we'll be able to handle it. Just hope we don't get to that point at all," I explained.

"Sounds good, thanks. I'm going to try and sleep some," she announced like it wasn't obvious and curled up.

I nodded in response and decided to grab my own blanket. It wasn't that I was cold, just in case I fell asleep I would prefer to have it on. Don't ask why, it just makes it more like a bed I suppose. And really, even though I was still dog tired, I didn't expect to sleep since me and sleep still weren't on the best terms. To my surprise though, I did start nodding off, and my last realization before sleep consumed me was the fact that I never went to see Helena for the blood like I was supposed to. That's probably why I was so tired and why my physical need won out.

When I consciously came to again, I noticed that I was lying on my side in some grass. I was in the Otherworld again. "Really, again?" I groaned and shut my eyes, "can't I get a break?"

"That's why you're here. I figured you needed one."

I knew that voice, but it wasn't Nyx. I sat up and noticed Jack sitting on the edge of a stream looking back at me and smiling, "so you're welcome I guess."

I smiled back at him a bit, "well thanks, but isn't a break technically a time when you just _don't_ dream at all?"

He chuckled, "what else are you supposed to do when you sleep? You're soul's gotta do something!"

"You're supposed to have non-REM sleep based on every science I've ever known," I responded. We'd learned about it in one of my bio classes back in human high school.

"Ok, but then what happens to your soul?" Jack asked back.

"It doesn't matter," I shrugged. I didn't really have an answer to that.

"JC, you're a Spirit vampyre, the first within a few centuries. Of all the people, you should be the absolute _last_ one saying that," he responded and shook his head.

I smirked a bit, "touché. So what's going on right now anyways?"

"I'm glad you asked!" he beamed, "you're body's getting the rest it needs in the physical world and now your soul gets the rest it needs in Nyx's Realm. It's all very good for you!"

"Finally," I sighed in relief, "and I'm not gonna get pulled away this time like I did last time?" I asked.

Jack shook his head, "you shouldn't since last time was your affinity. Someone was hurting Stark or Zoey's soul and that's what pulled you away, not Darkness like I initially thought. It was such a relief to know that too, because I thought you were in some serious trouble."

"Trust me, it was scary as hell from my part too," I agreed and, after a moment's debate, plopped back on my back onto the grass, "so I don't have to do anything right now?" I asked.

"Nope," he answered and popped the P, "right now you are free to do whatever you want."

Free to do whatever I want. I hadn't really heard that phrase since I was Marked, and it was nice to hear it again. I let my eyes close and let out a content breath, "that is nice, real nice."

We struck up different conversations after that. Jack was really interested in everything that'd happened since we'd last met in a dream. Despite the fact that he could basically see and know about everything that was going on, he was still interested in hearing my thoughts and learning more about Damien and how he was holding up, not that that was too surprising. And of course, he talked too, about him and Damien when they were alive, about the Otherworld, about Anastasia making her final entrance into Nyx's Realm, and most interestingly about his own death.

"You know, Neferet killed me," Jack stated like it was everyday information. It was weird to be able to talk to someone about their own death…and so naturally too.

"I think we all have our suspicions, but we have no proof of it," I responded, "if I may, how did she do it?" I asked quietly.

"It's okay to talk about," he said and smiled at me, "really, I don't mind. I mean, I miss being with everyone else, especially Damien, but I don't mind being here with Nyx and the other spirits. I've come to terms with my death, it happens eventually anyway, right?" he asked and I nodded slightly, "yeah…she did it with Darkness. After talking to me, she held me to the ladder until midnight, where Darkness pushed me off the ladder and onto the sword. It didn't even hurt…really the worst part of it was learning later that Damien and Duchess saw it," he explained.

I swallowed and turned my head to look down at the grass I was on. "That sounds horrible," I commented finally.

"I had enough time to come to terms with it and be brave. I knew I was going to die and I knew I was going to see Nyx, there was nothing I could do _but_ be brave about it," Jack responded.

I looked up again and looked at the kid sitting across from me. All I ever heard about him was how sweet and adorable and childlike he was. But the boy sitting there was mature and brave and wise beyond his years. I had to question how it was possible for him to be both. "It pisses me off that it happened at all. It pisses me off even more that we can't _prove_ anything about it," I grumbled out and tore some of the grass.

"All in time, JC," he said, "eventually…everything will sort itself out, I have faith in you guys."

I only smiled in response and looked down at the grass in my hand. "It's getting around the time for you to wake up again." I looked back up to Jack in question.

"It feels like it's only been an hour."

He giggled, "yeah, but time in Nyx's Realm and time in the real world are two entirely different things. You need to be waking up soon, your plane will be landing."

I sighed and got myself to my feet, "I suppose that's a fair argument. Will I be speaking to you again?" I asked.

"From time to time I may pop up."

I smiled and nodded, "then until next time, Jack." The area faded away from my sight and a new one appeared a moment later. It wasn't the airplane like I expected though. It was…ah shit.

"Welcome back to my humble abode," I smiled to me. Yay, back to Final Destination with evil me!

"Why the hell am I back here?" I demanded instantly, "what do you want?"

She smirked, "nothing major, it won't be long, I promise, I wouldn't want to take your precious time away from you. I just wanted to give you a fair warning." When she said nothing more, I motioned my hand for her to continue, "you think you're escaping by going to Skye. And while it may be away from Neferet, it certainly isn't from Darkness, meaning it certainly isn't from _me_. The Isle of Skye is built off of and filled with ancient magick, but that ancient magick is as much Darkness as it is Light, even if Sgiach serves the Black Bull. Magick has two sides, darling, always two sides, just remember that."

And then I was awake on the plane with the understanding of a couple things. For one, I was freaked the fuck out again. Two, I really had to pee. And three, my shoulder was hurting like a bitch while we were starting to land. I slept the whole plane ride, I think that just goes as a statement to how much I needed that sleep.

While the dream was quite worrisome (an understatement), I focused on my physical issues for a moment. I gently felt my shoulder with the fingers sticking out of the bandages and scrunched up my face in confusion when the cloth of my shirt felt wet. I pushed the collar of my shirt back to reveal _those_ bandages and stared at the red on them for a minute. "Damn it," I cursed and resituated my shirt properly. Pressure, changing air pressures and a newly sutured shut wound. Or maybe the turbulence causing odd blood movement since the cabin is pressurized, or maybe I shifted my sleep and caused it…whatever the hell the case was, it looked like, judging by the bleeding, I popped a good 8 stitches. Just wonderful.

I groaned and shifted as the seatbelt light came on. I was bleeding and I had to pee and I couldn't get out of my seat to take care of either. I guess the movement and/or the noise caused Shaylin to wake up since I saw the blanket move and she looked at me. "Are we landing?"

"Yeah we're there. I'd suggest staying under the blanket until we do though, just since it seemed to work and to stay safe," I said and the blanket instantly fell back over her head.

With that covered, I sighed and shoved my head into the back of the seat. 15 minutes, it took 15 minutes to land the plane, and Goddess were they ever long minutes. Finally though, the plane landed, the seatbelt sign went off, and people were getting up. Looking around, I noticed nearly everyone was getting stuff out from the overhead compartments and I took that as my chance to get a glance outside. The connector from the plane to the airport was covered, luckily, but it looked quite flimsy. It was around sunset though, so that was a bonus.

"We're getting off last," I announced to Shaylin.

"Why?" she asked, though it was muffled from the blanket.

"Because the covering on the stairs is pretty bad. It's gonna be uncomfortable as hell for you to go through because of the light, meaning you're going to want to get out of there fast, and we aren't going to get to be first. Might as well clear everyone else out before we go through," I explained with a shrug then hissed with pain. That was going to need to be taken care of pretty soon.

So we waited. I checked multiple times to see if I could get to the bathroom on either end of the plane, but the pathway wasn't clear until we were able to get out, so there wasn't any point. When everyone else had finally cleared, I nudged Shaylin and we, along with Duchess, Quinn, and Cameron, made our way off the airplane. We stopped briefly before going onto the stairs to remind her to run, and then we were flying down them.

"That made me ache," Shaylin mumbled once we were clear of those and in the little hallway thing to get to the actual airport.

"Hopefully that's the worst of it," I commented as we went to get our luggage. We stood around for only five minutes or so before grabbing that and continuing on…and that's when the fun set in.

Neither of us were paying attention, I was checking for service in order to see what was going on with the rest of the group and if Zo called me back, and I think Shaylin was fascinated by all the auras. Whatever the case was, we didn't realize she stepped into a patch of sunlight until the red fledgling let out an ear-shattering scream from the pain.

Many people were surprised and stopped to stare at the oddly Marked, screaming girl. Shocked, my instincts kicked in and I practically body slammed her into the closest wall and out of the light. Using my arms to support myself against the wall and block her from the light, a motion my shoulder protested greatly, I looked down at her, "you alright?"

"That burned!" Shaylin exclaimed in shock, "really badly!"

"Yeah," I muttered, "now you know what it's like for a red fledgling to be in the sun." I turned to look back and let out a groan. This was a freaking airport and there were big ass windows everywhere! This would be so much fun to get out of. "C'mon, I'll go get your stuff and we'll go to the bathroom like we initially planned. There shouldn't be windows in there," I decided. And after Shaylin huddled in the dark of the corner as I got her stuff, we were off to the bathroom. Now I _really_ had to pee.

After getting to one, taking extra care to keep her out of the sunlight, and taking care of everything needed, I paced the bathroom attempting to get a signal. Getting none, I sighed and looked to Shaylin, who had decided to sit on the counter the sinks were in, "I'm going to go try and get a signal. Stay in here for your own protection, I'll be back," I said and went out, Quinn following me.

Finally with some bars, I noted that I had no messages and called my cousin again. Unlike last time though, she answered. "JC! I was just about to call you, I just got your message, how's it going?" she asked.

"Ugh, let's not get into that," I sighed and turned my head to look at the ceiling, "you _just_ got my message? So, uh, any chance you could get a helicopter to the western border of Scotland, actually, strike that, Lenobia I don't think realized where these tickets went. How about Armadale, Isle of Skye?" I asked, noticing all of the signs that stated the city's name around the area.

"Well…" Zoey said and trailed off, "I can ask. I don't know how quickly it'll get there though."

That's what I was afraid of. "Can we try to make it fast?" I asked.

"JC, I can't promise anything."

I groaned, "can you at least _try_? This has been one hell of a trip and I refuse to spend another three hours or Goddess knows how long in the bathroom!" I exclaimed.

"What?" my cousin asked in confusion.

"It's still a good bit sunny here, Shaylin can't be in the daylight. Trust me, we've already had one encounter…so we're hiding in the bathroom," I explained. On top of that, I'm bleeding, in pain, and tired as all hell, but I chose not to speak those facts right away.

"Look, I'll see what I can do, we'll get word when the helicopter lands there, and I'll call you. That's the best I can do," Zoey stated.

"Fine, fine," I sighed reluctantly and rubbed at my face, "just go and do it and call me ASAP alright?"

"Alright, see you soon. Bye," she said and I hung up. I let out another groan, and if I weren't in an airport full of people, I would have screamed.

"_You alright?"_

I looked down and shook my head, "_FML. Seriously, all of it."_

_ "Alright, so you're pissed."_

I snorted a bit, "_whatever gave you that idea?"_

"_You're swearing a good bit right now. You have one more thing and then you're there and we've all made it, it'll turn out alright,"_ Quinn promised.

I grumbled but said nothing as we went back into the bathroom. "So, we're in here until Zoey calls me because there's a helicopter or until the sun sets…whichever comes first. And it is a serious toss up as to which actually does come first," I told Shaylin and sat down on the floor. Yeah, gross sitting on the floor of a public, airport bathroom, but I really couldn't bring myself to care.

Shaylin only nodded in response and started swinging her legs from the sink. I sighed and let my eyes drift shut. I didn't fall asleep, but it did feel kinda nice to give them a break. And for an hour, we awkwardly sat in the bathroom of the Armadale airport and waited. It was kind of funny when people walked in, because they gave us the strangest looks. Some left the room entirely, which was really funny. Two, teenage, girl fledglings just sitting in a bathroom, nothing wrong with that, right?

Anyway, after an hour passed, the word of the helicopter came and the sun had set, meaning we were free to leave the airport altogether. Literally, we threw all of our stuff in the thing when we got to it, the animals got in, and I collapsed in the front seat. A vampyre was flying it, and he handed both Shaylin and me headsets. There was no communication going on between us, but it was nice to have. And one, final, quiet flight later, we were finally standing outside the newly opened Skye House of Night.

The pilot, who was most definitely also a Warrior when I looked again, led us into the castle and into a main room where the rest of the group was waiting. The moment we were in the room, Zoey literally flew and tackled me in a hug…which was quiet painful.

"Ow, damn Z, I'm happy to see you too, but please, ow, get off," I muttered and gently rubbed at my shoulder when she got off.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot!" she exclaimed, "my Goddess, are you alright?"

"I'm…alright now," I sighed and looked at her. I was suddenly extremely tired, "it's been one long ass week."

"You have been through much," someone agreed with me and I looked to find none other than the queen standing and smiling at me, "merry meet, Jennifer."

And now I was embarrassed at my mouth. Blushing slightly, I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed, "merry met, Queen Sgiach. It is quite nice to finally be here."

"As it is nice to have you here. Your cousin and her friends have spoken quite highly about you," Sgiach stated and I looked around, forcing a smile at them. I noticed Stevie Rae was watching Shaylin intently and was just burning to talk to her…and I also noticed I felt like I was in some type of haze and it was _not_ pleasant.

The queen continued talking, and I blinked a few dozen times to try and clear the fog taking over my mind…but it wasn't working. After about a minute, I had to interject as I could feel myself swaying. "I'm sorry, your Highness, but Stark," I said, noticing that he had come by me and Zoey.

"Yeah, JC, what's wrong?" he asked a bit worriedly.

I could feel my knees starting to buckle, "I'm going down." And no sooner had I said it that they buckled and I fell. The reason I told Stark was because I knew he would be able to catch me, which didn't fail either.

"JC, my Goddess…are you…wait," he paused, one of his hands wrapped around my bandaged shoulder. He probably felt the wet, sticky material too, since he pulled down my shirt to reveal the red bandages. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"20 stitches last night. I think, judging by the bleeding, at least 8 of them popped on the trip here," I mumbled an answer.

"JC-"

"Don't, please," I begged Zoey. I knew where she was going to go before she said anything, "I already have a headache, along with a head rush and whatever else. I know, I should have said or done something sooner, but what the hell am I supposed to do on an airplane or airport full of humans?" I asked rhetorically.

It worked though, as my cousin just sighed and shook her head. "Canon," Sgiach called and a Warrior with dark hair and eyes stepped forward, "if you will, escort Stark and Jennifer to the infirmary," she ordered.

He nodded and signaled for us to follow. After a moment of getting situated, Stark practically dragged me after him (I was leaning heavily on my cousin's Guardian because honestly…I didn't trust my own legs), and Zoey was by my side. It was a short and quiet trip, but both Zo and Stark were watching me intently and worriedly. Not that I could blame them seeing as though I did almost pass out in the main room a few moments ago.

"Leslie," the Warrior called, leading us into a room that looked quite similar to the infirmary in Tulsa. A black haired woman with sharp amber eyes appeared a second later and looked at us expectantly. "She is the Spirit High Priestess we've been waiting for, she's bleeding," he explained.

The woman went to work almost the moment he said bleeding. She came over, led me to a bed, and sat me down. I guess she felt my shoulder too, because she instantly went there. "What happened?"

I sighed and explained it for probably the third time, "I was injured last night, got 20 stitches in the shoulder, took a plane ride today. What happened, I don't know, but some of them apparently popped."

"Ok," she nodded and looked up to Zoey and Stark, "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt," she told me, then, "you two are going to have to leave, I need the room, if you want to wait you can, just not in here."

"Don't bother," I added, "I'll be alright and hopefully by the end of this I'll be going to bed anyways. Besides, isn't class starting soon?"

"It is," the nurse agreed.

Zoey let out a breath and crossed her arms, looking at me, "you are starting to worry me more and more, I swear you're getting more reckless."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I responded and smirked a bit, "I'm here now, it's better. I promise, we'll talk later about…everything…just get to class now."

She nodded and the two filed out. After that, I did basically everything the nurse said and soon after found myself in a gown with my shoulder wound unwrapped and her looking over me. "11, you popped 11 total," she informed me.

"Great," I mumbled and sighed, letting out a grunt when I felt the needle go into my shoulder to give more numbing stuff. And that was pretty much the end of the discussion as she tended to my shoulder. This time though, the drugs worked and it wasn't painful, therefore I wasn't cussing like a sailor through it.

However, towards the end, that comfortable silence was broken as I heard voices coming in. "It isn't my fault!" someone, a guy, said.

"You were the one that kept going!" another person, and another guy, responded.

"You were the one that created the challenge in the first place!" guy one retorted, "I didn't think it would go this far."

"Well I didn't either. Hell, I figured you'd wimp out on it, I know you don't like going hand to hand!" guy two said.

"Can't we just agree that you're both idiots and move on with it?" yet another person, now guy three, asked.

"It's his fault!" guy one and guy two said at the same time.

"Leslie, help me, please!" guy three called and a moment later, a tall, blonde haired blue fledgling appeared in the doorframe to the room I was in. He stopped when he noticed me, "oh, well, hello there."

I was going to say hi, for lack of any witty response, when I was cut off before I even started. "Switch, is she not…oh." The two others, one a dirty blonde, green eyed blue fledgling and the other a dark haired, gray eyed red fledgling, appeared in the doorway as well.

"Well, surprise surprise," Leslie stated, "the Three Musketeers in here again. What's wrong this time?" she asked.

"Pace and I may or may not have torn up our hands in a bet," the dirty blonde stated. So far I knew Switch and now Pace.

"I'm almost done, just wait for a moment," she said and I heard the familiar sound of gauze being unrolled. Yay for time three!

None of the guys standing in the doorway seemed to think to use the waiting room to wait, and continued to watch the nurse and me. It was then that I remembered I was in a hospital gown and I blushed almost immediately. "Um…for the record, this is _extremely_ awkward right now for the girl with the torn up shoulder," I stated.

"Oh, right, right!" they all exclaimed and clamored away from the door.

Leslie let out a sight and shook her head, "they are nice boys, I swear, but they can be so dense at times," she muttered.

I chuckled a little bit and closed my eyes, waiting for her to finish with the gauze. Five minutes later, I was done and dressed again, following Leslie out of the room and into the waiting room. "Ok, so which one is injured again?" she asked.

"Sky and me," the dark haired one…Pace, answered and they both held up hands that were…hm, well, looking quite mangled.

She sighed and shook her head, "I'm not even going to ask how that happened. Alright, Skylar, Pace, come back with me. Switch, would you mind showing Jennifer here to her room? She's with Shaunee and Erin."

"Yeah sure, not a problem," he nodded, "just make sure to take care of these two…and maybe knock some sense into them?" he asked.

"You have no room to be talking," Leslie retorted and took the other two back, leaving just me and Switch.

"Switch Serafim. You want to head to your room?" he asked and smiled at me after a minute or so of awkward silence.

"Jennifer Connolly Redbird, but it's a lot easier to just say JC. Please, lead the way," I said and motioned to the door. He let out a chuckle and we walked out. I sighed in relief, I was finally here, fixed, and safe…and it was an amazing feeling.

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><p><strong>Remember, 7 reviews is the magic number!<strong>


	5. Suspicions

**A/N: Sorry for the delayedness. The site is sorta going wonky on me...and my weekend was strange. Saturday was St. Patty's Day, which is kinda a big deal around her, Sunday is a day better left forgotten, Monday I was in loopy land from a big headache, and today I'm kind of afraid to leave the safety area around my bathroom. Fun times, 'nuff said. I also apologize for any mistakes for these reasons as well.**

**Disclaimer: So, let's check up with what's going on in Tulsa. I own nothing but my characters, and anyone who isn't mine belongs to their rightful owners from the SYOC, I'm just too lazy to cross-reference everything right now.**

**I've got a lot coming up this weekend, including a college visit (the joys of high school's final years). I'm thinking 5 reviews would be enough incentive for me to get something up on Sunday or Monday ;).**

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><p><em>Tulsa<em>

**Neferet's POV**

The little brat got away after all. I had no intentions for JC to leave my sight and go to that isle where she can learn everything she needs to. Knowledge could very easily be power to that girl, and while she could never reach my ability, her being weak was a great benefit to me. My plan to keep her here was now ruined thanks in no part to Lenobia interfering. Teacher interference, that would have to be taken care of and soon. I already had the perfect way.

However, the one good to come of it was that I had extra space for other plans. Other fledglings, those more important and helpful to me. I had been doing some research, learning about other students with other affinities, affinities that could be useful in our current issues with the human population, as I told other High Priestesses. There were many promising fledglings, boys and girls alike, but after looking at the records, one girl stood out above the rest. I knew for a fact that she would aid me willingly, both with her personality and her affinity. There was only one issue, her High Priestess was refusing to transfer her for some, ludicrous reason.

Darkness could sway her mind, just as it could mostly anyone's, and I could use it to sway this Priestess's, but a sacrifice was required. While it was ready and willing to go against the natural order of free choice, it needed that power the life would give it, and yes…it must have a life. If it weren't for the life power needed, this transfer would have already been done.

But, everything was covered. And as I was glancing out my window, the knock came and I smiled. "You may enter," I called and the girl came in.

"Hello, Priestess," Dee Summers said and bowed formally to me. I hid my grin behind my coffee mug, "Sam said you wanted to see me?"

"Hello, Dee, yes, I did," I nodded and motioned to the chair in front of me, "please, sit down and make yourself comfortable." The girl did as I told and I let out a small sigh, debating on how to start this conversation. Surely she would be upset and frightened about this if I approached it incorrectly, and I didn't need the noise of her complaints and frightened screams so soon. "Would you agree that we must all make sacrifices during this time?" I asked finally, stopping her from fidgeting.

"Of course, Neferet," she agreed quickly, "but it will all be beneficial when this fight turns out right."

I knew what she meant, but I would enjoy toying with her a bit. I gave her a silky smile and nodded, "be careful of what you mean by right. Not everyone might agree with what is the proper outcome of this."

"You're win, of course," Dee amended.

I grinned, "very good, I am glad to know that you are still on my side. It makes my news a bit more bearable to tell."

She perked up instantly, "you have news? What's going on? Now that the circle is gone, it'll be so much easier I imagine!"

"Yes, it will, though I did not wish for all of them to leave," I muttered my frustrations but continued, "however, this has nothing to do with them. This is between you and me. I need something from you, Dee, something very important."

"Anything, Neferet. What do you need?" she asked quickly.

She was going to be upset over the next words, and I had to resist the urge to smile at the image of her face falling and the negative emotions rolling off of her. "I need your life," I answered.

And just as I predicted, her face fell and her voice faltered. "W-what?"

"I need your life, are you deaf, child?" I asked, "the truth is, you have outgrown your use to me and I need your life. Even you said yourself that sacrifices must be made, this is your sacrifice to our cause."

"W-w-why? How have I outgrown my use to you? I have known you for four years, followed you and your every word, I have the school wrapped around my finger! How could I no longer be of a service to you?" Dee cried, just as I expected her. And the emotions, the fear, the sadness, the anger were coming off of her in waves.

"Ah, that was always your one fault, child, you don't think ahead to the future," I stated. She seemed confused, so I sighed and had to explain, "you are a sixth former now, Dee. Obviously, Nyx," I nearly spat the name, "does not want you to die, therefore you will not reject the Change. But what happens once you do Change and you're a vampyre? What use are you then? You have no affinity, you have no purpose to stay at the House of Night, so you leave, just like that, and you no longer help me. At least, in this way, you die for our cause and do the right thing. And is that not what you wanted all along?" I asked.

She looked at me, fear and the formation of tears in her brown eyes. And then she spoke the words I was waiting and wanting to hear. "I don't want to die, Neferet," she whispered brokenly. In a way, I almost pitied her. But it was all I needed to justify the killing.

"Then obviously, Dee, you are not on my side," I stated. Darkness formed around me, and I let it swirl around my fingers before I commanded it. "Restrain her," I ordered and it did as I asked.

The girl looked frightfully at her wrists as Darkness cut into her skin and started to make them bleed. She attempted to move them, and I laughed when she couldn't. "Foolish, you know the power I wield, there is no reason to attempt to escape from it!"

"How could you do this to me?" she yelled, thrashing against her invisible bindings, "after everything that I did for you, you treat me and betray me like this! Why, I don't get it?" she cried. I expected one of two reactions from her, one the silent, willing submission to her fate. Obviously, this was not happening, meaning she was going to fight for her life and try to earn it from me.

"Betrayal?" I asked and laughed, "please, Dee, get your facts straight. I never promised _anything_ to you! You followed me expecting to get something, and that was your mistake to make."

"Neferet, don't do this," she said, "_please_, don't do this! I will do anything you want, absolutely _everything_ you tell me to do! I'll stay after my Change, I'll take a school position, no matter what it is. I'll increase my power over the student body, _anything _you want! Just don't do it, don't kill me."

"Stop it at once!" I ordered and glared at her, "I never expected you to beg, I figured you had more self-respect than that. I suppose I was wrong, and I suppose I am exposing you for what you truly are right now. A coward. My decision is final, child, nothing you can say will sway me. Darkness, do what you will to her and take what you need to fulfill my request."

The Darkness intensified around her and she let out a scream in sheer agony. I smiled at the sound, it was music to my ears, and I could feel the power swell in the air. I watched as a sliver wrapped around her throat and cut, leaving the air in empty silence as the girl's eyes shut and the element fed.

The dark red liquid fell to the floor, and Darkness fed on every inch of it. After watching intently, I realized the body was being released and I bit my lip. Of course it would need to be cleared away without anyone knowing, and I couldn't be bothered with such a task.

"Aurox," I called and the boy stepped out of the corner filled with shadows. I remembered he was there, and by the glazed look in his eyes, I was happy because the incident gave him power as well. "You are not to use that yet. Take the body and lay it by the large oak, take care to let no one see you. If someone does, by chance, tell them you found her outside of school grounds like this and do what they instruct you to. Go," I ordered.

"What of the blood?"

"Darkness shall take care of that," I grinned, "now go, do as I ask."

"Yes, Priestess," he agreed huskily and I turned my back as he went to fulfill it.

Just as the door closed, my phone rang. And as Darkness continued to feed, I smirked and went to pick it up. It had worked, and I was one step closer. "Hello?"

**Aurox's POV**

I had witnessed the whole thing. Much like the battle, it was exhilarating and powerful while sick at the same time. I knew what was happening to the poor girl was not something that should be commended. The blood pooled around her as the Darkness took her. It was sheer black and red around the body, and it was a gruesome and horrifying scene.

Yet her emotions, her fear, her sadness, her regret, pooled into me with an intensity I didn't know could exist. And they gave me power, they gave me strength, and I could feel the Darkness calling to me, telling me to help it in its killing of the sacrifice. I wanted to, but at the same time I didn't, I knew it was wrong and I felt disgusted at the force and at Priestess for doing what she did. The girl very clearly didn't want to die and was more than willing to do anything to spare her life. Priestess considered it cowardice, I saw it as desperation.

It was over just as quickly as it seemed to start, and it was very obvious that the body remaining in the chair was lifeless. That was when Priestess ordered me to take the body out of the room. I knew it would be bad for her to be implemented in this death, which was why she wanted the body removed, but I worried more about the blood. It would be difficult to remove that from the floor. However, she promised it would be taken care of, and I obliged to her original order, leaving the room just as the phone started ringing.

I navigated my way through the school grounds in the shadows, avoiding any contact with another as best I could, just as Priestess had asked. No one noticed me, as it was getting late for vampyres and they were going to sleep. I reached the oak without much of an issue and carefully laid the body down on the ground in front of it.

If it weren't for the jagged, swollen, red line cutting across her throat, the girl would appear to be sleeping comfortably underneath the tree. She contained almost an ethereal beauty about her, her hair splayed about her and her eyes closed, but the cuts and the Darkness surrounding her destroyed the image.

I sighed and stood up from my kneeling position, dusting off my pants. There was something wrong about this whole situation, I just couldn't say why. The girl shouldn't have been killed, much less by Darkness. Like Priestess had said, Nyx had not meant for her to die, she was meant to go on as a vampyre and live a somewhat normal life. Now, she was dead and just another pawn in Priestess's game.

"_You know the difference."_ I started at the voice and looked up. A woman floated there with long, dark hair and dark eyes. I thought I saw the Mark of a vampyre on her forehead, but I couldn't be so sure. The light of the coming sun obstructed my view partially.

"What?" I asked and blinked at her, "what difference?"

"_You know the difference_," she said again and I think she smiled, "_you know the difference between good and evil, despite what you do. That is a good sign at the very least."_

"A sign of what?" I asked.

"_Many things,"_ she answered, "_now go, you are expected in other places to do other things."_

I paused and stared at her. "Who are you?" I asked instead of obeying. Not obeying, the thought did not register with me right away, but I did _choose_ to stay.

"_I go by many names, my Son, and it is a topic that can be discussed at a later date. Now, I would advise you to go on now, for your own safety,"_ she responded.

This woman apparently knew something I did not, so I nodded and turned away. I walked away from the scene just like she had asked, and faintly I thought I heard on the wind, "_goodbye Heath."_

That was followed by me hearing footsteps approaching the spot. I fell into a light, silent jog as I went back to the shadows around the school. Stopping and out of curiosity, I turned back around and watched as a blonde haired girl and her black and white cat approached the area where the other girl's body was lying. She spotted the body quickly and let out a strangled gasp at the sight.

I turned back around and continued my jog. I figured it would be best for me to be entirely gone from the scene and avoid the questions, just as Priestess had ordered. Priestess, and seemingly the mysterious woman I had just spoken with.

**Gwen's POV**

After JC had left for the airport, I started and finished my homework from yesterday. As a teenager, and because of the events that took place that night, I didn't get the majority of it done, and I figured I should probably do so for tomorrow. Especially since I couldn't use the excuse of not having enough time because we didn't have classes today.

I got that done and then just waited for my roommate to call me and let me know that she got there safe. And that was the reason I knew I couldn't sleep, because I'd be waiting for her to call. Goddess knows she had gotten herself into more trouble than she needed, and I just hoped she got there without injury or any other issue. I knew Maggie was asleep, her magic pain pills were pretty good and made her sleep pretty heavily, so I couldn't hang out with her, and it was past curfew, so I couldn't go see any of the guys.

On the other hand, I was bored out of my mind in my room. After some debate, I grabbed my phone and got off of my bed, deciding that I'd go for a walk. Though vampyres and sunlight didn't seem to go together that well, I didn't care. It had been a while since I had seen a sunrise, and I did kind of miss it.

Going to the door, I turned back when I heard a meow. I looked back and smiled at Oreo, who had gotten up and was staring at me. Having JC did help in that aspect, since he wasn't alone with Quinn and Duchess here, and she could talk to him. Though, it didn't take much to figure out what he wanted, and I smiled. "Alright, c'mon. We're gonna go for a walk," I said and opened the door, closing it behind my cat.

The dorms were clear as I left, seeing as everyone probably went up to bed. I got outside without a problem and was surprised the sun didn't hurt as I walked out. It was only just starting to peek over the horizon though, so that could've been why. Everything outside was really nice though, the slight breeze, the remainder of the snow and ice from the storm, and the fact that everything was cleared off now. You wouldn't be able to tell of the fight and subsequent deaths from the night before if you didn't know about them, and I was thankful because the bodies and blood was absolutely disgusting to leave outside and in view of all of us.

"The calm after the storm. Or maybe before, who knows," I sighed as I looked down to Oreo. He gave a slight _mrrow_ in response and I took it as an agreement. "It is kinda sad that I have to add that last part though," I mused as an afterthought. Before all of this, there wouldn't have been a calm before the storm after a storm already hit. Now, it was a downpour at least once a week.

I was lost in thought and let my legs take me wherever. Oreo followed by me without a second thought or sound, so when he started growling and sounding extremely uncomfortable, I snapped out of it. "What is it Oreo?" I asked and tried to follow his vision.

I noticed there appeared to be something laying underneath the oak tree where everything went down last night. I figured that maybe it was just a body that the cleanup forgot or was preparing for the proper vampyre burial (there was one vampyre killed after all), but as I approached, it was kinda obvious it wasn't that.

The first thing that hit me as I approached was the Darkness in the air. I couldn't see it, but it was very prominent all around me and the body. Then, I saw the brown hair, closed eyes, and the crescent. This wasn't a vampyre, someone who was killed in the fight…this was Dee.

"Oh my Goddess!" I breathed and I covered my mouth, "oh my Goddess, oh my Goddess, _oh my Goddess!"_

Oreo meowed and brushed up against my leg. "No," I shook my head. I may have hated everything that girl was, but I didn't want her dead. I didn't want anyone else dead, though that was unlikely.

Against everything my body was telling me, I walked over and knelt down beside her. The Darkness intensified with each step I took, and looking down, I could see the welt across her neck. That alone was obvious proof that she didn't reject the Change and was killed. Along with the fact that she was a sixth former and I could _feel_ the Darkness around her, but that was circumstantial evidence…the welt was proof.

Protocol would require me to tell someone, preferably Neferet. But the Darkness led me to suspect she was the cause of it, and there was no way in hell I was approaching that. That's when I stood up and bolted, screaming the first name that came to thought, "DRAGON!"

I ran to the gym and burst through the doors to find he was just leaving, probably clearing up some work or the reports of what happened last night. I nearly ran smack into him and he looked at me worriedly.

"Gwendolyn? What's wrong, what's the matter?" he asked and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Body…by the tree, it's Dee, come on!" I cried and turned around, running back to the tree and leading him there.

Dragon went over to the body immediately when we were there and looked at her. "You found her like this, and didn't touch her?"

"Nothing, none of that, no," I shook my head, "what…what happened?" I asked.

"There is no definitive answer yet…but I think you and I both know what happened," Dragon said and glanced at me, "go back to the dorm and let us handle this."

I stared blankly at him until what he said registered and I went off, glancing back every so often as more teachers and Sons of Erebus Warriors appeared and approached him. This wasn't how this night was supposed to go either, yay for more death.

Still no one was in the dorms as I walked back in and shakily went back up to my room. I sat down on my bed, Oreo curled in my lap, and for about 15 minutes, I just sat there and tried to gather my thoughts. Around the time where I could think properly and process the fact that I had, indeed, just seen the dead body of Dee Summers, I heard banging on my door. Sighing, I got up (effectively pushing an unhappy Oreo off of my lap) and answered the door, surprised to see my currently crippled girlfriend standing there. "What's up Mags, something wrong?" I asked and peeked around her. It was even more surprising since every other fledgling was being woken up and leaving too.

"Neferet called a meeting in the auditorium, she wants all of us there as quickly as we can," she explained and stepped out of the way to let me out.

"Great," I grumbled and came out, closing the door behind me and following Maggie through the dorms. "Did she, or whoever came to get you, tell you why?" I asked.

"Nope, Sam came and said, and I quote, 'get your gay ass out here, get your damn girlfriend, and go to the auditorium.' She left before I had the chance to shove my crutch up her ass," Maggie explained and rolled her eyes. She looked at me with a small smile that faltered upon my expression, "why do you ask? Do you know why?"

I bit my lip and looked down, watching myself walk down the steps. "I couldn't sleep, waiting for JC to call and all that, and yes, I know it'll be a while, but I still couldn't sleep. I went out for a walk and…I discovered that Dee is dead," I answered quietly.

"She…what?" she asked in surprise, obviously unable to form any other words.

"Dee Summers, the hateful bitch to all of us, is dead. Her body was lying in front of the oak where everything always happens around here, and her throat was slashed. I found Dragon the moment I found out and…that's probably what this meeting is about," I added.

"Wow. Was it…"

"There was Darkness _everywhere_," I answered her unasked question, "even Dragon thought the same thing. It's hard to not jump to that conclusion with the evidence around."

Maggie remained silent for a while and we walked (or I walked and she hobbled) toward the auditorium in the cool, morning air. Finally, she sighed, "I never really did like her. If anything, our lives may be a little bit easier now."

I looked up at my girlfriend in shock. "Just because she was a bitch to us doesn't mean she deserved to die," I stated.

"I know," she nodded, "and I didn't want her to die either. It's just my thought process. I wonder why Neferet would kill her…I mean, Dee was her biggest supporter."

"That's the only weird part," I sighed and pushed open the auditorium door that we reached, "but I guess we're about to find out."

Maggie and I found the rest of our group and sat down. Harley and Luke greeted us tiredly and Zane oddly looked over us in worry before nodding and greeting us as well. I was going to ask him what was wrong, but Neferet came out onto the stage almost the moment after I sat down.

"Students and faculty, I'm sure you are wondering why I called you all to this meeting at such a late hour," Neferet called over the microphone and everyone effectively shut up, "well, it is because I come bearing bad news. It has just recently been discovered that one of your classmates and students, sixth former Dee Summers, has been killed."

Gasps of shock rang out among the room. She paused to take it all in and then continued, "now it is known that she did not reject the Change, because, while it is not impossible, it is extremely rare for a sixth former to reject the Change. In addition, after a basic examination, there is evidence to suggest that she had her throat cut."

This time it was murmurs going from every student. This was rare, nothing like this had happened since the professor killings that were attributed to humans. "And based upon where she was discovered, near the broken oak, there is one assumption that can be made."

I could feel the anticipation, Darkness, and hate starting to swell up in the room. Thoughts were becoming more prominent, and I knew where this speech was going before Neferet even said the words. "That assumption, is that the humans have infiltrated our school grounds and Dee, who was out because she couldn't sleep or for some sort, was found and they killed her out of sheer hatred and prejudice!"

The crowd roared almost immediately at the indignity of one of their peers being killed. So many thoughts were filled with so much hatred toward the humans, and Darkness was eating up every part of it. This was wrong, so very wrong. Humans did nothing, it wasn't their fault. I groaned and sunk deeper into my seat, pressing my hand to my eyes. I didn't expect this to physically hurt, but I was starting to feel pain in my head from everything going on.

I felt someone squeeze my hand and kiss my temple. I looked from under my hand to notice Maggie and Luke, sitting on either side of me, and looking at me in worry. "This isn't right," I muttered, "we all know that. It hurts, a lot, and I don't know why."

"It hurts?" Luke asked quietly.

"The hatred, the Darkness, all of it. It's like a system overload almost," I whispered. In response, Luke just squeezed my hand in comfort and Maggie started rubbing my back.

"Because of this injustice and for your own safety," Neferet continued, "I have decided to cancel classes for another day and issue a curfew. After this meeting is over, return directly to your dorms and you are ordered to stay there until 8:00 pm, when classes would normally start. So long as there are no questions, you are dismissed."

"What are you going to do?" someone shouted from the crowd.

"I will make a decision regarding this soon and you all shall know," Neferet answered and walked off to the stage, signaling an end to that short questioning period.

People started filing out of the auditorium, thus taking their hatred and anger and Darkness with them. The pain in my head started receding and I let out a relieved sigh as I sat up properly in the chair to meet four pairs of worried eyes. "What the hell was that?" Maggie demanded quietly. There were still a few people that could hear us and she didn't want to draw attention (for that matter, I didn't _want_ the attention).

"I don't know," I shook my head, "it hurt though, like my brain was pushing its way out of my skull. I have no clue what it was in response to…er, no…it was because of everyone else and the hatred and the Darkness. I don't know _why_ it happened."

Everyone stood quietly and stared at me for a moment with a mixture of looks. "Well, if anything, it should be a help to get you out of here. So let's do it," Maggie broke the silence as Harley and Zane helped me up. After standing up and managing to shake the two of them off, I followed after them as we went back to our dorms.

The guys split up from us when the time came, leaving just Maggie and me to go back to our rooms. "So, you sure you're alright?" she asked as we went back inside.

"I'm feeling better now, it was just really weird," I answered confidently, "I don't know why it happened, that worries me more than anything."

"A lot of weird shit going on."

I laughed a bit bitterly, "you're telling me."

"You want me to come up to your room with you?" she offered.

"Nah," I shook my head, "I'm' just going to go and get some sleep, shake off the remaining effects and all that. It's not going to be too exciting."

"Alright, feel better at least," Maggie said and leaned over, kissing my temple as we got to her floor.

"Says the girl with crutches and her leg in a cast," I joked, "I will."

Maggie just chuckled as she went off and I went back to my room to do exactly what I said. Well, actually I had one thing to do before that, I realized when I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Scrolling quickly, I found my roommate's number and pressed send, put it to my ear, and waited.

"Gwen! I was just about to call you!" JC's voice came from the other line and that alone took a huge burden off my shoulders. "I finally got up to my room just now, I would have called you when I first got here…but there was an…incident I'll call it," she added.

My thoughts were sidetracked by that statement. "An incident? What happened?" I asked.

"Heh…" she sounded a bit guilty, "11 popped stitches in my shoulder, almost passed out in front of Queen Sgiach from the blood loss."

"JC!"

"I know, I know!" she exclaimed and chuckled a bit, "trust me, Zoey tried to reprimand me too. But what was I supposed to do with popped stitches on an airplane and in an airport? Especially with a red fledgling who started burning in the sun…"

"Sounds like a rough plane, but you're there now, safe, sound, and taken care of?" I asked.

JC chuckled again, "already met one of the nurses and a couple of my fellow students now. I'm apparently not allowed to go to classes for today, and quite possible tomorrow, because of this. But I'm here now. So what's up, why'd you call?" she asked.

Right, this fun news. "Well," I sighed, "some interesting events took place today. Stuff that you probably need to know."

"Judging by your tone, this isn't good," she pointed out and I could hear her sitting down on the bed, "what's going on over there?"

"Dee was found dead about an hour ago," I figured it'd be best to just rip it off like a Band-Aid. When the silence from the other end continued on, I started to get worried. "JC?" I asked, "you still there?"

"…Yeah, yeah I'm still here," she answered quietly, clearly surprised, "I just…wow. Was it, was it from the Change?"

I grimaced a little bit, "her throat was cut. Neferet is claiming that it was a human that jumped the wall and got into the school."

"That's a lie, isn't it?"

I nodded even though she couldn't see me, "I was the one who found the body. JC, there was Darkness all around her…even Dragon knew it was evident what _really_ happened. But the whole school took the human theory to a new height in response. I don't know what's going to happen with it, but it can't end well."

There was silence again, and then, "I may have hated her guts within the short amount of time I knew her, but I would never wish her dead, especially in that manner. I just…don't understand why. Dee was like Neferet's puppy, followed her everywhere and did everything she said. What purpose would Neferet have for killing her? How does that serve her?"

"We're on the same page in that regard," I admitted, "I was trying to think of some reasons and came up with nothing. Maggie commented that her being dead should make it a bit easier on us, with one less obstacle and everything, but I'm not sure. Neferet had to have some reason to kill her, and that may be even worse."

JC sighed and I could hear the wheels turning in her mind. "Maybe Dee went against her or something. Maybe Neferet took her power too far and Dee, having still a little bit of a conscious, decided enough was enough and stood up for herself," she suggested.

"Maybe," I conceded a bit, "but that seems far too easy."

"Sometimes easy is the best answer. Occam's Razor and all that," she responded.

"Occam's Razor was smashed to pieces by Neferet and her crazy, evil Sword of Darkness and Complete and Total Chaos," I retorted darkly.

"Well that's positive," JC snorted and then sighed bitterly, "but so true. I'm sure there's more to it, like you said, but honestly…we don't have anything to go off of, even to validate my Occam's Razor point. Nothing can be said of this right now."

I grumbled, "I wish we could do something about it. The reaction to this was beyond horrible. As I said, Neferet's claiming it was the humans, and a lot of the vampyres and fledglings here are calling for blood…and that's what Neferet really wants."

She groaned and I could just imagine her flopping back on her bed. "Has anything, of yet, been decided regarding _that_ aspect?" she asked.

"Other than the majority of the school believing it was humans and calling for the start of a war? No, she didn't say how she was going to enact anything yet. Probably to let the feelings of hatred and anger to boil over in everyone," I spat.

"Then, I hate to say it, but all you can do right now is wait," JC responded, "you have no proof of anything, just suspicion…and we can't go off of that. You just need to wait and see what happens."

"I hate waiting, especially right now," I grumbled.

"I know, trust me. I get it, I really do, but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it right now," she said comfortingly.

"Why do you have to be so reasonable right now?" I joked and sighed, "yeah, I know, all we can do is wait right now. It doesn't mean that I don't want to go rip out Neferet's eyes and throat."

"Honestly, I've played that scenario in my mind hundreds of times…and none of them end so good with the current position we're in."

"I'm not quite sure how to respond to that," I commented, "should I be worried?"

"Eh, depends on which way you look at it," she chuckled, "listen, I'm gonna go find Zoey and tell her about this news. If we can get anything on it, I'll call you ASAP. You sound dead tired, you need to get some sleep."

"This coming from the girl with 20 stitches in her shoulder, 11 of them popping, a torn up hand, and who hasn't slept in at least a week. Do you understand how hypocritical that is?" I teased.

"Well…let's just not get into that. You follow doctor's order like you should, you're responsible like that. I'm not," she laughed, "but seriously, get some rest, and if anything changes call me, sound fair?"

I sighed and agreed, "sounds fair. Get some rest yourself. Bye JC."

"Bye Gwen, talk to you soon," she said and I hung up.

I threw my phone to the bottom of my bed and this time actually curled under the covers and fell asleep. The little nap helped me immensely, because when I woke up again, any linger effects of the headache I got earlier were gone and I felt pretty good. And hungry.

With my stomach growling, I got up, ran my fingers through my hair a few times, and went downstairs to the small kitchen we had, intent on looking for food. This time, more girls were out and about now that we didn't have classes today either and because we had the curfew. None of them watching TV paid me any mind as I walked into the kitchen, but that trend was ended pretty soon.

Walking in, I noticed a girl that I didn't recognize. She had nearly white hair going down to her waist, which I couldn't decide if it was impressive or not since she was nearly 6' tall, and dark green eyes. She was in a pair of jeans and boots with a corset top (how girls can wear those I will never understand), a leather jacket, and a fedora. Judging by the symbol on her jacket, she was a fourth former like me…meaning that she was in my class and I would likely know her even if I didn't talk to her. I didn't know her at all, and judging by the clothes and her stature, this was going to be an interesting conversation if one was struck up.

"Enjoying the show?" I blinked out of my thoughts about trying to figure out if I knew her when she spoke. Her cold, green eyes were fixed on me and I shook my head.

"Sorry, it's been a rough couple of days, and for the record, no, I'm not," I answered, wary of what she'd already been told of me. If she'd been told anything, that is. "Have we met before?" I asked bluntly.

"Doubtful," she answered in a rather bored tone, "seeing as though I just got here about an hour ago."

"So you are new then," I muttered and looked her over. I couldn't sense any Darkness around her (yet), but I was a little wary. "Welcome to the Tulsa House of Night then. Hope this place doesn't throw you into hell quite as quickly as it has to a few other new students," I said and walked around her, grabbing a bowl to use for some cereal. Let's just say, after the past couple of incidents…I was feeling quite a bit cynical.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," she responded and rolled her eyes.

"Just speaking the truth if you haven't heard of much about here," I shrugged.

"Trust me, I'm not stupid. I've heard about what's been going on around here," she retorted.

"Then you'd understand my warm welcome," I answered simply and started getting my breakfast together.

"Whatever," she grunted, "and now that this fun little meeting is over, I think I'm going to go find my new room. You know, after being ripped out of my original House of Night and transplanted here within a few hours of another student's murder and then getting that wonderful greeting, I'm pretty exhausted. Thanks again, really. Come on, Ferocious," she said and turned away. A small, gray kitten appeared that I didn't even know was there and left with the retreating figure.

I watched her a moment, trying to see around her. There was no Darkness, as I already knew, but with that type of personality with whatever the hell just happened, there was a lot of potential. And that was extremely odd, which made me extremely wary, I must admit.

"So you've met our newest fourth former, Violet Winters now," Maggie said, coming up and standing next to me. I didn't notice her in the room either, "isn't she just a peach?"

I didn't respond for a moment, caught up in watching this new girl, Violet, walk up the stairs and out of my sight. I didn't care about what proof I had, something was weird. "This isn't right…there's something going on with this. It's just too coincidental."


	6. The Death of Beauty

**A/N: So, I didn't get the number of reviews I requested and I had some drama to deal with, both literally and figuratively. But I'm back.**

**Attention 1: Since I'm getting into actually using the OC's more now, if I write them and it seems extremely far off to what they would do...don't feel like you shouldn't review that/tell me. Just let me know! It's extremely hard writing OC's and keeping them in character as is, it's even harder writing them when they aren't your characters.**

**Attention 2: Poll on my profile, you should all definitely vote on it because I do cater to my readers from time to time, and if I don't get a majority yes, it's not going to happen. I'm on the fence about it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but JC and Quinn, this plot, and a few random ideas that have nothing to do with this story. Truth is, I'm broke and I got nothing that can help in that aspect. The song is 'Wine Red' by The Hush Sound, an awesome indie group that you all should check out.**

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><p><em>Isle of Skye<em>

**JC's POV**

Walking along the halls of a magnificent castle in a totally awkward silence with the dude bringing you to your room. Awesome way to start my current life on the Isle of Skye. Seriously, Switch seemed like a nice enough guy, all of them did based on the brief couple of seconds I talked to them (they may be a little dense…but what teen guy isn't at times?), but it was just extremely awkward walking next to him. I mean, he was glancing/staring at me out of the corner of his eye, and it was pretty easy to figure out why. Every one of my Marks was visible, and even if the news had broken about us, it was still shocking more than likely.

Finally, I gave in and sighed, "you know, it'd probably be easier if you just asked about them. It's not like I haven't had the questions before."

"Wait…what?" Switch asked like he was pulled out of his thoughts.

"You, you're staring at my Marks…at least I'm assuming that's why you're staring at me," I explained and looked at him as we rounded a bend.

"So you instantly assume that I'm staring at your Marks," he stated and sounded slightly offended. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not though, "can't I just be staring at you because you're cute and I want to check you out?"

I snorted and resisted the urge to smack myself on the forehead (or smack _him_), "for your sake, and for mine, I _really_ hope that isn't the answer you stick with. Seriously, not in the mood for it right now." And after a Goddess knows how long flight, 11 popped stitches and nearly bleeding out in the main room of my new House of Night, sleep deprivation, and the creepy assed dream(s) still at the back of my mind, I was not in the mood to handle any of that.

"Ok, fine," he admitted and let out a suffering (and I think joking) sigh, "we were told about and warned over your arrival, but the completed, purple Marks and the bracelets? It's still surprising to take in."

"Fair enough," I chuckled, "just imagine waking up being Marked like that."

"I wouldn't want to," Switch laughed and shook his head, "I'd probably shit myself."

"I came close," I retorted jokingly and then jumped at the loud buzz that went off overhead. I certainly wasn't expecting that noise, and so loud! If anything, that's one way to wake yourself up. "What the hell was that?" I asked when my escort only laughed harder.

"That would be your class bell," he answered, "third hour just let out. I take it your bells were a bit different in Tulsa?"

"Yeah," I agreed and let out a breath, "you could say that." And as if on cue, the classroom doors started opening and fledglings of every former and appearance flooded into the hallway, going a variety of directions just as at any school. It'd be fun fighting our way to my room now!

"Switch! Switch, wait up!" I heard a girl call through the crowd and we both turned to see a couple of girls pushing through the crowd to get to us. Or, more accurately, a girl with black, wavy hair, dark blue eyes, and a body that belonged in a Victoria's Secret catalogue (though I did have to question the legitimacy of her boobs…because I'm cynical like that…and, sadly enough, I know the mind of a typical teenage girl) pushing her way through people and a girl with chocolate brown, straight hair and pale green eyes following dutifully behind her.

"For the record, I apologize for anything that may happen in advanced," Switch muttered to me then looked at the girls. "Katie, A, fancy meeting you here. What do you need?" he asked.

"Hey Switch, where's Sky, is he alright?" the girl with black hair got right to the point, stopping in front of us. Based on what I could tell, I was invisible to this chick. I mean, sure, I didn't want the attention, but a simple hello to the new girl might be nice on occasion. Even an acknowledging nod or something would've worked.

"So you did hear about what happened last hour," he commented, "yeah, he's fine…just broke some skin on his hand because he and Pace are idiots. It looked a lot worse than it actually was."

"But he's okay?" she pressed, "is he with you?"

"Yes, Katie, he's fine. No, he isn't with me, he's probably in fourth hour now like he should be, and like you two should be too," Switch answered.

"Watch it, Switch, I don't need some big ole' fifth former telling me what to do," the girl, Katie I'm guessing, teased and smacked him playfully on the arm. Judging by her uniform, she was a fourth former and the girl with her was a third. "Alright, thanks for the update, I just wanted to make sure he was alright. But you're right in saying that we need to get to class," she said and appeared to turn away.

"You're the Spirit vampyre!" I was shaken out of my musing over the two girls when the brown haired one spoke, and seemed to be speaking to me. Huh, maybe I wasn't invisible after all…damn, after thinking about it, I decided that would've been kind of awesome. I mean, being invisible could've allowed me to be a pretty sweet ninja! Ugh, I needed sleep so badly.

"I, uh, yeah, I am," I agreed and smiled a bit, not quite sure how to respond to a statement like that, "JC Redbird, nice to meet you."

"Katie Heathers, welcome to Skye!" the black haired girl introduced herself and grinned brightly at me.

"Aella," the second girl said, much quieter.

"Well thanks," I said and smiled a little bit, "now, I don't want to keep you from class and I need to get to my room anyway. Though it was nice to meet you," I added a bit awkwardly, trying to imply that I wanted to get to my room. It contained my bed, so it wasn't a lie.

"Right, to your room!" Switch agreed, "see ya later girls," he added to Katie and Aella then turned with me and we were on our separate ways.

Going back, he let out a sigh and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "Are you alright?" I asked, a bit confused at the actions.

"Yeah, fine," he nodded, "I just…I'm cool with the majority of the people here, but she bugs me, Katie I mean. A is alright when you get her alone, just not a fan of Katie," he explained.

"Oh," I answered, "any particular reason why?"

"I can't say anything really, she's my best bud's girlfriend. I just don't like her."

"Alright. She seems nice enough," I shrugged, not really ready or willing to impart any judgment since I'd talked to the girl for all of three seconds. She did seem a little…well, either oblivious or, I don't know, something else. "I just gotta ask though, are the boobs real?" I asked. Yes, I was legitimately curious over that, however shallow, don't judge me. If it's worth anything, I'm cynical and suspicious of the Victoria's Secret models too.

Switch started laughing and looked at me, "I like you, JC. You are the first person to actually ask me, or anyone really, that."

"I guess I'm a bit of an oddball," I shrugged weakly with my good shoulder, "that didn't answer the question though."

He shrugged too, "I haven't exactly had the desire to ask, or find out in any other way."

"Fair enough," I chuckled and let the conversation drop. "So, do you know why I'm in a room of three?" I asked, changing topics. I was kinda curious over that too, I mean, rooms were typically two people, so why was I with the Twins?

"Don't know," Switch answered and shrugged again, "I think it has something to do with not knowing about the other red fledgling that came with you coming and having to make adjustments after that happened. Why do you ask, don't like your roommates or something?"

"Oh, alright. No, it's nothing like that, I like the Twins, it was just a little odd to hear I would be in a room of three," I explained and yawned, "though right now, I could probably be in a room of 50 and so long as I could sleep, I wouldn't care."

"Long trip?"

"Long life," I retorted and sighed, rolling my neck to crack it.

"I can understand that, sometimes life just gets to be too much," Switch agreed sympathetically. I figured he didn't have a damn clue as to what I meant by that and what I was actually feeling, but I didn't have the heart to actually speak that aloud.

So instead I nodded and muttered an agreement then let us fall back into silence. I stared at everything around me in amazement and I was pretty sure Switch was watching me with sheer amusement. This place, I mean, I never imagined I would actually _be_ here, it was beautiful and, in an odd way, felt like home. I felt a connection with the area that couldn't fully be explained, so I just figured it was my heritage and my slight (ok, _huge_) obsession with anything Irish and Scottish.

"Well, this is your room," Switch stated, stopping in front of a large, mahogany door, "with Shaunee and Erin, though of course they aren't here right now. Get that sleep you were ordered to get."

I smiled, "will try. Thank you Switch, this place is a maze," I added and opened the door.

He just nodded and turned back around down the hallway as I closed the door and looked at the room I would be calling my own. It was huge, with three beds covered in nice sheets of blacks and blues and purples in the two back corners and on the left. Between the two beds on the back wall was a door I assumed led to the bathroom we'd be sharing and on either side wall was a closet. I went over to each and opened them, smirking at the fact that they each contained one Twin's clothes. Not that I expected any different, and I was fine with the dresser anyway.

Speaking of which, I turned to look at what I guessed was my bed and found my suitcase and my dog lying on top of the sheets. "_Well it's about time,"_ Quinn teased, but I could hear an undertone of worry in her voice, "_where the hell have you been?"_

"I was in the infirmary getting 11 popped stitches fixed up," I answered and went over, sitting down beside her and setting the suitcase on the floor, "how long have you been here?"

"_11, way to go. Basically since we got here. I followed the Warriors here when they brought your stuff up. This place is humongous!" _she explained.

"Yeah," I chuckled, "it is, that's part of the reason I was so late. Switch, the guy who brought me up here, and I got stuck when third hour let out and we had to walk through a hall full of classes and students filing out."

"_Well you just met the entire student body then,"_ Quinn joked and rested her head back on the bed, "_are you not allowed to be going to class or something?"_

I nodded, "I was ordered to sleep…and I can't complain about doing it after I call Gwen to let her know I'm still alive…" as if on cue, my phone started ringing, "speak of the devil."

I flipped open my phone with a grin, "Gwen! I was just about to call you!" I exclaimed. "I finally got up to my room just now, I would have called you when I first got here…but there was an…incident I'll call it," I explained, figuring it was best to just get everything that happened out now.

"An incident? What happened?" my roommate asked worriedly.

"Heh…" I giggled guiltily, "11 popped stitches in my shoulder, almost passed out in front of Queen Sgiach from the blood loss," I answered.

"JC!"

"I know, I know!" I cut her off before she had a chance to go on a health rant, "trust me, Zoey tried to reprimand me too. But what was I supposed to do with popped stitches on an airplane and in an airport? Especially with a red fledgling who started burning in the sun…"

"Sounds like a rough plane ride, but you're there now, safe, sound, and taken care of?" Gwen asked, cutting me off now. She probably didn't want to know everything that happened on the flight for her own sanity. She definitely was a worrier I learned.

"Already met one of the nurses and a couple of my fellow students now. I'm apparently not allowed to go to classes for today, and quite possible tomorrow, because of this. But I'm here now, mostly safe and somewhat sound. So what's up, why'd you call?" I answered and asked. It was a bit weird her calling me since I promised I'd call her and she knew for a fact that I would.

The moment of silence and change of tone was enough for me to know that this wasn't going to be good. "Well," she sighed, "some interesting events took place today. Stuff that you probably need to know."

"Judging by your tone, this isn't good," I commented bluntly, "what's going on over there?" What could possibly have gone wrong since I left? I mean, just really! Ugh!

"Dee was found dead about an hour ago."

If my phone wasn't sandwiched tightly between my hand and my cheek…it would have dropped to the floor. Dee? Dee Summers was dead? Ok, I may have never liked the girl…but dead? Dear Goddess, I was really hoping it wouldn't be _that_ bad.

"JC?" Gwen asked from the other line, "you still there?"

"…Yeah, yeah I'm still here," I found myself answering, "I just…wow. Was it, was it from the Change?" I knew it wasn't, she wouldn't be calling if it was just from rejecting the Change, if it wasn't suspicious, if there weren't other things attached to it.

"Her throat was cut. Neferet is claiming that it was a human that jumped the wall and got into the school," she answered.

"That's a lie, isn't it?" We both knew it was, but I had to make sure to clarify everything before I made any conclusions.

"I was the one who found the body," oh great, my worrier of a roommate found the body, "JC, there was Darkness all around her…even Dragon knew it was evident what _really_ happened. But the whole school took the human theory to a new height in response. I don't know what's going to happen with it, but it can't end well."

I took that answer in with silence, thinking about that information. Goddess, things shouldn't be able to go this bad this fast after we left. Or hell, it shouldn't get that bad after the night with the Raven Mockers either! "I may have hated her guts within the short amount of time I knew her, but I would never wish her dead, especially in that manner. I just…don't understand why. Dee was like Neferet's puppy, followed her everywhere and did everything she said. What purpose would Neferet have for killing her? How does that serve her?" I was more talking to myself than anyone else, just voicing my thoughts to try and get them straight.

"We're on the same page in that regard," Gwen agreed, taking me out of my thoughts, "I was trying to think of some reasons and came up with nothing. Maggie commented that her being dead should make it a bit easier on us, with one less obstacle and everything, but I'm not sure. Neferet had to have some reason to kill her, and that may be even worse."

I only sighed again, "maybe Dee went against her or something. Maybe Neferet took her power too far and Dee, still having a little bit of a conscious, decided enough was enough and stood up for herself," I threw out there.

"Maybe," she conceded a bit, "but that seems far too easy."

"Sometimes easy is the best answer. Occam's Razor and all that," I answered. Yeah, I knew that wasn't right, but I was trying to stay a little bit positive.

"Occam's Razor was smashed to pieces by Neferet's Crazy Evil Sword of Darkness and Complete and Total Chaos," Gwen responded darkly.

"Well that's positive," I snickered and then sighed bitterly, if only because I knew she was right, "but so true. I'm sure there's more to it, like you said, but honestly…we don't have anything to go off of, even to validate my Occam's Razor point. Nothing can be said of this right now."

She grumbled, "I wish we could do something about it. The reaction to this was beyond horrible. As I said, Neferet's claiming it was the humans, and a lot of the vampyres and fledglings here are calling for blood…and that's what Neferet really wants."

I groaned and I fell back on my bed. Of course she would, of course the war with humans would begin when we _weren't_ there. "Has anything, of yet, been decided regarding _that_ aspect?" I asked.

"Other than the majority of the school believing it was humans and calling for the start of a war? No, she didn't say how she was going to enact anything yet. Probably to let the feelings of hatred and anger boil over in everyone," Gwen spat. If anything that was probably a good thing. Not to let the anger and hatred rise in the House of Night, but if Neferet hadn't done anything yet, there was still a chance to counter it.

"Then, I hate to say it, but all you can do right now is wait," I said, "you have no proof of anything, just suspicion…and we can't go off of that. You just need to wait and see what happens."

"I hate waiting, especially right now," she grumbled

"I know, trust me. I get it, I really do," boy did I ever, "but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it right now," I responded.

"Why do you have to be so reasonable right now?" she joked and sighed, "yeah, I know, all we can do is wait right now. It doesn't mean that I don't want to go rip out Neferet's eyes and throat."

"Honestly, I've played that scenario in my mind hundreds of times…and none of them end so good with the current position we're in," I admitted.

"I'm not quite sure how to respond to that," my roommate commented, "should I be worried?"

"Eh, depends on which way you look at it," I laughed, at least the mood was lightened up some by the conversation of Neferet's death (if that isn't ironic…), "listen, I'm gonna go find Zoey and tell her about this news. If we can get anything on it, I'll call you ASAP. You sound dead tired, you need to get some sleep." That was one thing I knew that I had to do now, Zoey and the others needed to know about this. I'm so going to get lost!

"This coming from the girl with 20 stitches in her shoulder, 11 of them popping, a torn up hand, and who hasn't slept in at least a week. Do you understand how hypocritical that is?"

"Well…let's just not get into that. You follow doctor's order like you should, you're responsible like that. I'm not," I laughed, "but seriously, get some rest, and if anything changes call me, sound fair?"

"Sounds fair. Get some rest yourself. Bye JC."

"Bye Gwen, talk to you soon," I said and hung up. Sighing, I hung my head and let the information sink in before I made my decision to go find my cousin final and getting up.

I could feel Quinn watching me worriedly before I heard her dog tags jingling as she got up to follow me, "_what was that all about?"_

I sighed again as we left my room and started walking the hallway, "that was Gwen. Dee was found dead, her throat slashed. Neferet claimed it to be humans…but it was obvious what happened. Gwen said there was Darkness all around the body," I explained.

"_Wow, the bitch has no boundaries,"_ she commented and padded up beside me, "_and as horrible as that is, I don't understand what you're doing now."_

"I need to find Zoey, she needs to know," I said, "obviously something's going on and Neferet planned something…I just don't know what. Maybe she'll have some ideas."

"_And she needs to know this right now?"_

"I'm going to go crazy thinking up ideas and not get sleep until she knows, so it's for my own sanity," I said.

Quinn only shook her head in response and continued walking by me. After maybe three minutes of wandering around the castle, I stopped and groaned, "ok…where the hell are we? And where the hell do we go from here?"

"_You mean, you didn't know where you were going to start with?"_ my dog asked.

"That information, in hindsight, would've been extremely helpful to know," I muttered sheepishly.

"_You think?"_ Quinn retorted, "_c'mon…I can get us back to the main hall at least, we can figure something else from there."_

"Dogs, always a better sense of direction," I chuckled and nodded, following after her.

"_You have no room to talk, Miss Animal Girl. You should have a great sense of direction because of that,"_ she grumbled and I only laughed again.

"Touché, Quinn, touché," I agreed as she brought me back into the main hall. After looking around and chewing on my lip in debate, I sighed. "What would be really helpful would be one of those giant mall maps. You know? Those things that number every room and explain how to get there…and the giant red dot that announces 'You Are Here.' Yeah that'd be wonderful."

Quinn just looked at me for a moment, "_and you would know where you would want to go in order to find Zoey?"_

"No," I admitted with a grumble and crossed my arms, "but it would still be nice to have."

"Jennifer?" I spun around at the sound of my name and saw Queen Sgiach, a white bearded man with griffin claws Markings that I figured could only be Seoras, and a little brown haired girl sitting at one of the tables in the room and all staring at me in amusement. "What are you doing?" the queen asked.

"I was…talking to Quinn," I answered and pointed weakly at my dog. The only reason I didn't scream that I wasn't hearing voices was because Sgiach smiled kindly at me. I was used to the strange looks I got from saying that, I was used to being defensive.

"I suspected you were talking to your familiar," she answered, "however, that is not what I was referring to. Did Leslie not order you to rest?"

"Oh, heh. Yeah, she did…but…I just got some information that my cousin and the others need to hear," I explained, "and I don't have any darn idea as to where I am right now or where I need to be going."

"Aye lass, that's why yie shouldnae be here but in bed asleep," the Warrior told me.

"Seoras is right, especially if you want to start classes tomorrow," Sgiach added.

"I know…and I'm beginning to think that since I'm hearing this advice so much, I should probably listen to it," I admitted wryly, "all I need to do is find Zoey and tell her this then I'll stumble back to my bed and sleep."

"Why don't you just leave the information with me and I'll tell her?" she offered.

"As much as I appreciate that, Your Highness, this is just something I have to tell them all myself," I rejected. I didn't really know why I wanted to tell Z myself, I just knew that I had to. "Also because you seem to be busy teaching…" I trailed off because I didn't know the girl's name.

"Lynnia," Sgiach answered. The girl gave me a small smile and waved, then started signing something. "She is a mute, she said it is nice to meet you," the queen added.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you too," I responded and smiled, "is that why you're teaching her? Because she's mute?"

"Nae, the lass is only 11," Seoras said.

"11?" I asked in surprise. I mean, she looked young, but I just figured that was because of the lighting or something. "How does a Marking like _that_ happen?" I asked.

Lynnia shrugged in confusion as a response. "A rare occurrence but it can happen. How were you Marked like that?" Sgiach asked and smiled wisely.

"Just stranger and stranger," I muttered and shook my head, "anyway, I'm not meaning to interrupt. Can you just point me in the general direction I want to go to find my cousin?" I asked.

"You go down that hallway all the way and through the doors. That is the gym where your cousin and her Guardian are currently at. After that, you either go to lunch to eat then go to your room or go directly to your room," the queen ordered.

I smiled and nodded, "very well, Your Highness, thank you," I said, bowed, and then left for the gym with Quinn by my side.

"_If anything, she seems to like you,"_ Quinn commented.

"Yeah," I agreed, "which is good. The last thing I need to do is piss off the best Warrior in the world," I laughed.

"_That'd go well with the rest of your luck though,"_ she added.

I just laughed bitterly. After that, we walked to the gym in silence and entered a fencing class. "Of course," I sighed, standing by the door and watching the class go on, "do you see Z or Stark?" I asked.

"_I see Zoey, she's with the blonde dude over there,"_ Quinn answered and pointed her tail in the direction, "_I don't see Stark though."_

"He's here somewhere if she's here, probably having to help another student or something," I shrugged and went over, dodging the pairs going at each other to reach my cousin and the guy she was with. "Mind if I cut in?" I asked when I was close enough and saw that he was teaching her something.

"JC?" Zoey asked and stopped, looking at me, "weren't you ordered to bed rest or something?"

"Heh, yeah, how much do I actually listen to that?" I chuckled and then sobered up some, "listen, I got word from Gwen and we have a bit of a problem. Do you know where everyone is?" I asked.

"Well, Stark and I are here with Damien and Rephaim. I don't know where everyone else is though," she shrugged, "what happened?"

"Gwen, Dragon, and I are all pretty sure that Neferet killed…" I trailed off when I realized the guy that was helping my cousin was still watching us in confusion and I turned to him, giving a sheepish smile, "sorry, I'm being rude. For one, I'm JC, two, may I steal my cousin for a little bit?" I asked.

He laughed, "I know who you are, we already met, sort of. In case I didn't say so in the infirmary, I'm Skylar," ah, one of the guys from there…that explained the wrapped hand, "and this seems important, go ahead."

"Thanks," I grinned and linked my arm through Zo's, dragging her to the side, "this actually is important. Dee Summers, the girl who was a complete and total bitch to me and Gwen and everyone, was found dead this morning by Gwen. She and Dragon both assumed it was Neferet's doing, but she blamed a human, and more and more fledglings and vampyres are calling for a war against humans," I explained in a rush.

Zoey just looked at me in surprise for a moment, "wasn't Dee Neferet's biggest supporter?"

"Yeah, which is what makes it weird," I nodded, "but Gwen said there was Darkness everywhere around her body."

"Is it possible that the Darkness was there because it's everywhere in the school?"

"It's possible," I conceded, "but the fact that her throat was slit and Neferet is blaming humans makes it a little too coincidental don't you think?"

"Who's throat was slit?" I looked back to see the guys coming over to join us, Damien looking worried. Apparently they saw us talking and decided to join the party.

"Dee Summers'," I answered and sighed, "Neferet's biggest support in the student body. We're almost positive she did it…but we can't prove it and even worse, we can't figure out motive."

"Because she's a crazy bitch?" Stark asked, "isn't that more than enough for motive?"

"Yes and no," Rephaim answered, "her insanity is enough to explain why she does things, but that is not her motive. She has a reason to kill everyone she does, whether they are opponents or they serve as a sacrifice for Darkness, there is a reason for it."

"And not knowing that reason is worrisome," I added and groaned.

"Based on the two reasons Rephaim gave, then she served as a sacrifice to Darkness," Damien said, "it would be ludicrous to think she would be Neferet's opponent if she was her biggest supporter, which without a doubt, Dee was. The question becomes over why she was sacrificed to Darkness."

"And not knowing that is even worse," I agreed.

"JC, we can't do much about this right now," Zoey told me, "you know that as well as I do. We're here, Neferet and Gwen are there, and we've seen nothing and know very little. I'd still say you should probably call Gwen or whoever and warn them about this and tell them to be on the lookout for anything that could be strange or dangerous."

I swallowed and nodded, "and you guys need to tell the others since they're not here, maybe they know or could come up with any reason. Right now, I promised Sgiach that I would get some rest after this and now I'm fairly certain I need to do that…if I can get back to my room that is."

"_I can get you back the long way,"_ Quinn informed me.

"Alright," I nodded to her, "Quinn can get me back so I'm gonna go, have fun with the rest of classes and be prepared to lead me around tomorrow," I said and backed out the door.

They all smiled at me as I left, but the worry and bit of fear on their faces from the news was enough to know that we had more issues to deal with than we hoped. Remaining silent, I followed my dog through the castle and back to my room with the Twins, promptly collapsing on my bed and shutting my eyes.

And of course, I can't get normal sleep as the dreams keep getting weirder and scarier. Even when I start praying to the Goddess for either normal dreams or none at all, my prayers aren't answered. And this one, it was a fun one. It started when I blinked my eyes open, I was in the dark for a moment.

_"Who shot that arrow in your throat? Who missed the crimson apple? It hung heavy on the tree above your head."_ With those lyrics being sung, the scene before me came to life, and it was unnerving as all hell. There were bodies lying on the ground…bodies of the _circle_. Damien was lying by a river, glassy eyes staring at the clouded sky, the Twins back to back slumped sideways on a tree, and most strikingly, Zoey sprawled in the center of the field, a fresh, scarlet river running from her throat. All of them had an arrow jutting out of their throats. What the-

"_This chaos, this calamity, this garden once was perfect. Give your immortality to me, I'll set you up against the stars."_ It took me a moment, but I realized the lyrics were ripped from my mouth without much warning or thought, which was strange.

"JC?" I turned at my name and saw Aphrodite standing there. She wasn't in the scene, she was standing beside me. "How the hell are you here?"

I shrugged, but couldn't say anything except to keep singing. It was like that was all my mouth knew how to do, even as my brain worked on overdrive. "_Gloria, we lied, we can't go on, this is the time and this is the place to be alive. Who shot that arrow in your throat? Who missed the crimson apple? And there is discord in the garden tonight. The sea's wine red, this is the death of beauty, the doves have died, the lovers have lied."_

We both turned to watch as another person came into view…and that person was me, my arms tied to a tree and my head bowed. "Well, at the very least, the carnage has disheartened you enough that you stopped struggling and fighting the ropes," Neferet spoke and vision me looked up, glaring at her. By her side was Stark, and behind them were Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and Kalona. Suddenly, my stomach dropped…I had a feeling I knew what was going on, and glancing at Aphrodite, she did too.

"And yet you still seem reluctant to join us," she added and looked at me oddly, "why? What do you have left on your precious side of Light? Your Guardian and mate was killed, one of your Charges is dead, the other two have joined me, your fledglings are dead said for one who joined me, and the circle has been slaughtered. What keeps you rooted to this side?"

"Knowing that I'm doing right," I responded, though through myself watching that…I could feel the sadness and fear radiating through me (if that makes any sense, it was a weird thing to explain). "Knowing they died fighting for Light and if I was to give in and give up now, they would have died in vain."

_"I cut the arrow from your neck, stretched you beneath the trees. Among the roots and baby's breath I covered us with silver leaves. Gloria, we lied, we can't go on, this is the time and this is the place to be alive. The sea's wine red, this is the death of beauty. The doves have died, the lovers have lied. The sea's wine red, this is the death of beauty. The doves have died, the lovers have lied."_

"I always figured, aside from Rephaim, you would be the easiest to change," Neferet commented, "Stark and Stevie Rae were too associated with Light I thought. Apparently I thought wrong, that does not happen very often. You do know that you are the only one left to fight this battle for Light, correct?"

"I'm not stupid enough nor arrogant enough to think I'm powerful enough to beat you," I spat and glared, "I know the only reason I'm even still alive at all is because you think you can convert me. Either that or you enjoy toying with me way too much. I know I'm one of the few, if not the last one left for Light, and I know it's a losing battle without Zoey and the circle."

"And yet you still fight," she pointed out.

"It's in my blood. I don't know how to 'give up,' and that's going to be my demise." I was resigned, I knew what was coming.

"Stubbornness is going to be your demise. I offer you one last chance to join us and spare your life," Neferet said.

To save my life, it was a tempting offer. But as I looked at the bodies of those who died and knowing I couldn't help them, _my friends_, there was no point. "I'll die before I join you," I growled. I chose not to question whether I chose my death because guilt forced me to give up or because I really didn't want to join Neferet and Darkness.

"Very well," she grinned and signaled to Stark. He let go an arrow, and just like the others, it lodged right through my throat.

I had never seen the girl scared, or ready to cry…but looking at Aphrodite, she was both. I could understand, I felt both too…this was beyond unnerving, beyond scary, if only because this was a vision, and this had the potential of being real.

"_The sea's wine red, this is the death of beauty. The doves have died, the lovers have lied."_

My voice still ringing in my ears, I leapt awake and scrambled to my feet out of bed. My heart was pounding, I was sweating and trembling and I quite possibly felt tears down my cheeks. As I booked it for the door, I heard a faint scream echo through the hall outside and I only had one response. "APHRODITE!"

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><p><strong>Not particularly fond of this chapter. That's what writers' block does to you. Anyway, the magic number is 5...5 reviews and I'll try to update again.<strong>


	7. ANNOUNCEMENT!

A/N: Hey all, yeah I know this isn't an update, and I'm _really_ sorry for that. I'm having some health issues and on top of that, AP tests are coming up within the next couple of weeks and I'm essentially swamped. In addition, I have massive writers' block right now...like, there is a giant rock sitting on the creative part of my brain preventing me from doing or writing anything that is even remotely good. It's really that bad, and it's frustrating beyond belief.

That said, updating and all that is going to be a bit sporadic for a while, at least until AP tests are done and I'm feeling better. I'm hoping that by taking a small break from writing, it'll ease my writers' block and actually give me some ideas on how to continue. However, if you have any ideas or want to see anything happen in upcoming chapters, please, feel free to put them in a review or PM me or whatever; I'm cool with any ideas coming to me to help me out, in fact, it would be amazing and helpful.

Just figured that I would let you all know that I'm not giving up, I'm just in a rut. Until we meet again.

~Stormy


	8. Forced Out

**A/N: Hey hey, guess who's back! The majority of my tests are finally over, I'm in an attempt at getting my health back on track, summer is almost here, and my writers' block finally cleared up!**

**This is a little bit shorter than usual and it isn't very actiony (which is now a word). It's also late and has been revised, but quite possibly not to the best, so I apologize for any errors. Next couple of chapters revolve around school and what is going on in Tulsa, and that is when the OC's will begin to truly take their parts. The next chapter, I promise it'll happen.**

**Also, shout out to Nyx of the Moon (sorry, for some reason I can't put your whole username) for continually review Spirit Revived and here and reminding me that people are still reading and I should still be writing ^^.**

**Disclaimer: I own the guniea pig sitting on my lap. His name is Gadget, he says hi. He also says that I don't own him, he owns me...which is very true. And he also says that if the readers recognize it, it isn't actually mine. Gadget likes to kill my dreams and bring me back to this world.**

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><p><em>Isle of Skye<em>

**Aphrodite's POV**

I really, _really_ hate visions. In fact, I hate them worse than I hate bad hair days (which I get few and far between of), and that's really saying something. The point is, I hate them, and they're only worse when they make you drop to the ground in a screaming, writhing, unattractive mess during the middle of class on your first day at a new House of Night run by a queen. Unfortunate timing to say the least.

As I was forced to focus my undivided attention to the damn vision, the last thing I knew was someone, presumably my Darius, picking me up from the floor and taking me out of the classroom, the absolute _last_ way a girl like me should be making an exit. Then the song started, which was really strange, even for a vision, and what I was supposed to be seeing panned out before me.

If anything, I suppose I had to be a bit thankful that it wasn't a vision where I was _in _the vision like they had been the past couple of times. What I saw was a field filled with bloodshed and the bodies of the Nerd Herd, no doubt Neferet's doing. Dear Goddess, what the hell was this?

The fucking song continued, and it was doing nothing for the headache that was forming or my thoughts that I was trying to sort out to figure out just what the hell this shit was. But as I looked for the source, I found a red headed figure standing next to me, staring out at the same scene I was seeing. "JC?" I asked and she turned to look at me in confusion and fear. "How the hell are you here?" I asked, confused myself. Ok, I was the Prophetess, but this shit never happened before, and JC was allegedly my High Priestess, so she should have the answer!

Instead, she shrugged and looked like she tried to say something else, but all that came out was that stupid ass song. Well, I found the singer, but I couldn't do anything about it, and neither could she by the looks of it. So I dealt with it, as any good person should, and focused in again on what I was supposed to be seeing…and I really didn't want to go back to that hellhole.

Bodies, blood, arrows, Neferet with Stark, Bumpkin, and Bird Brain killing JC and admitting to the rest, all of it was enough to make me want to lose that salad I ate for lunch and make me want to drop to my knees and sob which, even during the field visions where people were burning, I never felt the desire to do before. I mean, I was Aphrodite, I didn't cry. When JC died, I thought that would be the end of it, but no, of course not.

"_Events in quick succession can lead to this, Daughter."_ After that, I was brought back to the real world with a scream half from pain and half from fear.

"Aphrodite…Aphrodite can you hear me?"

I groaned as someone stupidly decided to shake me and nearly shout at me. "Damn it, Z, knock it off! I didn't fall into a freaking coma, I had a vision," I growled and swatted blindly at her arms. At the very least, they were smart enough to get me lying down on something relatively comfy (it wasn't Girogetti…but I'd suffer through) and put a cloth over my eyes.

"You weren't responsive for some time, my beauty, longer than usual. Your eyes are bloodier than usual as well," Darius explained and I felt his hand cover mine.

"Was it worse than usual?" Zoey asked a moment later.

"No, my body just decided to have a worse reaction to a 'walk in the park' vision," I retorted, "yes…this was pretty fucking bad."

"What was it about?" Damien asked. Well, the whole Scooby Gang must be here.

"Is JC here?" I asked in response.

"No, she was the only one not notified per the queen's request. She needs the sleep, I had to agree," Z answered, "why?"

I laughed darkly at that. "Oh, she'll be here soon enough. Until then, just have to ask, anybody got the wine?"

"There is no wine, love," Darius told me gently.

"It wouldn't matter anyway," Damien added on, "you're a fledgling now…again…it's impossible for you to drink this pain away." Right, the purple crescent and all that.

"Ok fine, what about blood?" I asked. All I wanted was something to get rid of the damn pain that came from my eyes trying to push their way out of my head.

"We don't know where Queen Sgiach keeps that exactly. There's probably some set out for lunch, but do you really want to wait for one of us to go get it?" Stark answered, "why don't you just do what JC did for you last time?"

"Which was what, Arrow Boy?" I asked. Honestly, I'd probably wait for the blood, but they seemed to be reluctant on that too. My memory, especially right now, didn't stretch that far back, the hellish headache made sure that didn't happen.

"Call Spirit to you."

Oh…that did make sense in hindsight. "Spirit, please come to me and take away the damn pain that horrid vision left me in," I called out and almost instantly felt the element settle over me and take away the majority of the pain. There was still a dull ache, but I'd live.

"Did that work?" Bumpkin asked, proving she was in the room too.

"Pretty much so, better than the wine or blood ever did anyway…"

The door slammed open and almost immediately came JC's voice, "everybody out!"

"JC, what are you doing here? I thought you were sleeping like you were ordered," Zoey asked in confusion.

"Oh trust me, I tried," she answered, "and I need to talk to Aphrodite, _alone_. So again I say, everybody, please, if you would so kindly get out, do so. You can ask about the vision later."

"You know Aphrodite had a vision? No one told you," Stevie Rae commented.

"Yeah, again, _I know._ That's why I need to talk to her alone, just please leave…we'll explain everything in a little bit," JC insisted and the door finally opened.

"Darius stays," I added.

"I didn't expect anything different, I wasn't even going to try to move the mountain," she said and, I assumed anyway, shut the door after everyone was out. Let the games begin! There was a moment before she spoke up again, "what in the hell was that?"

"I was hoping you would know," I answered.

"You're the Prophetess, not me!" she exclaimed.

"And that shit has never happened to me before, so, I don't know what the hell is going on," I explained.

"Zoey was never sucked into a vision about her or anything?"

"Did she ever _tell_ you that she was?" I asked and my only reasons for not rolling my eyes were because she couldn't see it and they hurt like a bitch.

"I really _don't_ need the attitude right now," JC warned and I could hear how tired she was just from speaking. For a moment, only a fleeting second, I felt bad, but then it was gone.

"Well then don't ask stupid questions," I responded and she gave a disgruntled sigh, "look, I don't know what happened and that damn song is still running through my head…and that gives no help what so ever."

"'Wine Red,'" JC muttered, "it was too fitting."

"If I may," Darius spoke up for the first time, "what happened that has caused you to be so worked up, Priestess?"

"Aphrodite had a vision, as you know," she answered and sighed, "what you don't know is that I was somehow pulled into it to. I just watched my own death…and the death of everyone else."

"Said for Bumpkin, Arrow Boy, and Bird Brain," I added as a reminder, "but they were doing the killing for Neferet."

"Which is my second worry from all this," she admitted.

"What could possibly be your first?" Darius asked. I really couldn't say what would be worse than…you know…everyone's death.

"The fact that I _witnessed_ it without ever being a Prophetess. It just…it wasn't right for me to be there."

"But if Nyx willed you to be there, then there was a reason for you to witness it as well. You just don't know why yet. Maybe she wanted you to witness your own death." My Warrior had a point.

"Aphrodite always saw people's deaths before without anyone else being sucked in and watching it for themself." And so did JC.

We were silent for a few moments as all of us tried to figure out what could possibly have caused her to see the vision too. "Did you recognize the garden we were in?" JC asked, switching the topic.

"The hell if I know," I shrugged, "but how do you know it was a garden?"

She sighed and turned her eyes to the wall. "_This chaos, this calamity, this **garden** once was perfect. Give your immortality to me, I'll set you up against the stars,"_ she sang quietly, emphasizing the 'garden,' "I didn't recognize where we were, but it was a garden of some sort, and I don't think we were in Tulsa."

"Why not Tulsa?" Darius asked.

"Just…based on descriptions of where you guys have been, there is nowhere in Tulsa that matches what we saw. And none of the people in Tulsa were there…it was just the circle and Rephaim and Stark," she answered.

My Warrior's head shot up and looked between us, "Aphrodite and I weren't there either?"

"That's not to say we aren't dead, hotness," I said, "it just means we weren't killed with everyone else. Neferet did say that all of your fledglings were dead except for Rephaim."

"And as of right now, my fledglings consist of you and Rephaim, so sorry to say, but you're both probably dead," JC agreed.

"Happy day," I muttered and rolled my eyes. I was feeling better enough to take the cloth off my eyes and sit up, everything was red…but I could see again.

"Have you regained your vision, love?" Darius asked quietly and supported my back with his hand.

"Enough of it," I responded just as quietly and smiled, reaching up and firmly planting my lips on his.

"Great, we just have a vision about the death of the entire circle and you two are playing lovey dovey," JC cut in with a groan, "and as an added comment, _ew_!"

I sighed as we pulled apart and glared at her, actually somewhat happy my eyes were still bloodied since it intensified an already scary glare. "Don't be jealous because you aren't getting any," I smirked, "besides, you apparently have a Guardian and mate according to the vision…when did that happen?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes, "I picked him up at the airport, did I forget to mention that?" she asked sarcastically. After a few moments, JC sighed and ran her bandaged hand through her hair, "if you have no other bursts of genius right now, I'm gonna go get the others. Zoey is freaking out like no tomorrow about my behavior, and we might as well get the Brain Trust in here anyway…and Sgiach if possible."

"As I said, I've got nothing, this shit was new to me too," I shrugged, "but why Sgiach?"

"She _is_ kind of the ruler of this castle…and besides, she probably knows more about us than we do, so maybe she can explain what happened, maybe it isn't as uncommon as we think," she answered and went to the door, "I'll be back in a few," she promised and disappeared into the hallway, leaving me and Darius alone in the room.

"Are you sure you are alright?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Freaked out as all hell, but no different than any other vision otherwise," I answered, "no need to worry, hotness. I actually feel a bit better than usual, Spirit is one hell of a pain reliever."

"In these times, there is always reason to worry," Darius muttered and pulled me back into his lap, "and when visions like that happen, it is you who worries me the most."

We remained like that in silence for a few minutes. It was sad to say, but he made perfect sense, visions like that were enough reason to freak the fuck out, and I really wanted to figure it out and sleep it off. Where the hell were they? "Ten bucks says JC got lost in this maze," I grumbled.

"Or the group went out further than I initially thought," JC counteracted, walking through the door with everyone else, "though I do admit it is totally plausible for me to get lost here…it's already happened twice."

"Ok, so are you going to tell us what the hell happened now?" Stark demanded, apparently not at all fazed by her attempt at some humor.

"I had a vision moron, you were there for that," I retorted and crossed my arms, "and it was the usual, Neferet kills us all vision, with a twist containing chief over there."

"That twist being that I witnessed the vision as well," JC added when all eyes landed on her.

"Witnessed as in…"

"As in I was standing by Aphrodite, having a song forced out of me as I watched my own death," she effectively cut Z off, "and it's not exactly pleasant to be standing there watching your own death as you're singing about the death of beauty. I hope that explains my manner when I first walked in here, I was more than a little freaked."

"Wow…" Stevie Rae muttered, "well, do ya'll know why you saw the dang thing in the first place?"

"That's the problem, Bumpkin," I sighed, "JC didn't intend or want to see the vision, and I sure as hell didn't intend for her to be there, so we don't know why."

"Maybe you were just meant to see your own death, JC," she suggested. Already been there, Bumpkin, already been there.

"But why do it to me and not to Z? Aphrodite has had way more visions about Zoey dying than me, yet I was the one to witness my first death, why me?" JC asked rhetorically.

"Maybe it's your affinity," Damien added after a few moments of thought, looking directly at me, "when you were having visions before, you were a fledgling or a human…but you were never a Spirit fledgling. It is quite plausible that your abilities have been enhanced and improving since your second Marking."

"A very astute observation, young one," another voice agreed and all other talking and speculation stopped. Sgiach could do that to a room. "Is this your first vision as a Spirit fledgling, Aphrodite?" she asked me.

I shook my head, "this is my second. The first one was of another fledgling dying because of a Raven Mocker."

"But in the first one, you _were_ Maggie, you weren't watching the death," JC pointed out, "this is the first one where you weren't _directly_ in the vision."

"Interesting," Sgiach muttered.

"You think what happened was caused by Aphrodite's new affinity?" Zoey asked.

"I think this occurred because of _both_ of their affinities," the queen answered, but didn't give anything else.

"What the hell does that mean?" I demanded.

"It means that I believe your Spirit affinities combined during Aphrodite's vision, and that is what caused both of you to be in the room," she explained, "Jennifer, you were sleeping like ordered when this happened?"

"Attempting to, unfortunately," JC grumbled in response.

"That is what I expected. Are any of you familiar with the Realm of Dreams?" Sgiach asked, we all gave her blank stares as her answer. Seriously, we were a bunch of fledglings, how the hell were we supposed to know all of this old magick shit?

"My father used his powers to call upon it," Rephaim admitted, "that is how he invaded your dreams, Zoey…and Stark. He would call on his immortal right in the Realm of Dreams to lead his soul to the one he desired…but he had to have a connection in order to get there."

"Huh, Bird Brain isn't always useless after all," I commented.

"He was never useless to start, and will you stop calling him Bird Brain? He has a name ya know," Stevie Rae snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at me.

"True, he just got us into shit loads of trouble," I agreed and rolled my eyes.

"That wasn't his fault! That was his daddy and Neferet bein' all evil," she retorted.

"Are we really going to do this in the presence of Queen Sgiach?" JC cut in, "I mean…just so I know for future reference and can prepare for how many times I'm going to have to apologize for my fledglings."

"I don't apologize for anything I do, it's just not my nature," I said, "so you'll be doing it a lot for me if you want to."

"Hateful bitch," Erin muttered.

"Hag from hell," Shaunee agreed. Oh the Dorkamese.

"It's been a stressful week, we're all just tired and worried," Zoey explained, looking to the queen, "we don't mean for this to be disgraceful to you."

"That's an understatement," I muttered.

"It is quite alright," Sgiach smiled at her, "now, where were we? The Realm of Dreams is a very spiritual place. All mortals, fledglings, vampyres, and humans alike fall into this realm when they are sleeping, though their connections to the realm vary. Those closer to the element tend to be more aware in the realm, subconsciously if not consciously, the best example would be a Spirit guide and their Charge. I suspect something similar happened here."

"I don't follow," JC commented. She wasn't the only one. "Aphrodite isn't my Charge, and I'm not hers. So how did this happen in the first place?"

"Would you all agree that High Priestesses and their fledglings have a type of bond?" Sgiach answered with a question. I hated when people did that, it gave you jack shit in way of answers. We all nodded though and she continued, "and you would agree that Jennifer is Aphrodite's High Priestess," we all nodded again, "then that is your connection to one another. Aphrodite, I take it that you do not necessarily like having visions alone?"

"Fuck no," I agreed and shook my head. Having visions was scary as all hell, in case I haven't mentioned that yet.

"And subconsciously, your soul recognized that," Queen Sgiach said, "visions are much like dreams in that they do not happen in our realm, they are either of the future or of the past. So when you have visions, Aphrodite, you do fall into the Realm of Dreams. Since Jennifer was sleeping, she was in the same realm as you, and your subconscious picked up on the fact that you did not want to have the vision alone, so it latched onto the strongest bond you had that was in the same realm, which just so happened to be your High Priestess."

We were all silent, letting the explanation sink in. "So…I was part of the vision because Aphrodite subconsciously wanted me there?" JC finally asked.

"That is the best reasoning as to explain what happened," the queen answered.

"So all this Spirit and subconscious crap…is there a way to fix it, like turn it off or something?" I asked.

"With age comes awareness and with awareness comes wisdom."

"In other words, no," JC sighed and ran a hand over her face, "this connection I have with you…and Zoey…and Stark, it's stuck on the 'on mode' until I've learned how to control it myself. But until that day, I'm stuck with spontaneous body swapping and dream stalking."

"Learning how to control your connections with other souls will be something that I help you with," Sgiach promised, "having open connections unnecessarily is taxing on the physical and mental body. I can tell it is taking its toll on you."

"Among other things," she added under her breath.

"But aren't these connections vital at a time like this?" Damien asked, "we are at war, and the main target is Zoey. For that matter, Stark still has some type of connection with Kalona. Shouldn't the spiritual connection remain open in order to ensure their protection?"

"Yes."

"No." JC and Zoey answered at the same time and looked at each other.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, JC," Zoey argued, "you look like absolute hell right now with injuries and so little sleep."

"I'm not leaving either of you unequipped when I have the ability and task of protecting you," JC responded, "I am your Spirit Guide for a reason."

"Whatever is decided, I will still teach you this ability as you will not always need the connections open after this is ended," Sgiach said again, "now, may I inquire what this vision was about?"

"Death, as usual," I answered, "they're _always_ about death. Neferet went on another killing spree with Kalona, Bumpkin, Bird Brain, and Arrow Boy."

"Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and Stark respectively," Damien translated.

"Everyone else was killed in some type of garden, JC was the last one and Neferet taunted her with that fact as well that she assumed JC would be the easiest one to turn to Darkness after Rephaim," I explained after being interrupted.

There was a long silence where no one spoke, probably taking in the creepy ass vision I had to live through. "So…all of us were evil with Neferet?" Bumpkin asked finally

"No, you were all prancing around in the fields behind her," I rolled my eyes, "all three of you, everyone else was either dead or killed grossly by an arrow through the throat," I answered.

All eyes turned to Stark and he shifted uncomfortably. "It was just a damn vision," he said to defend himself, "it's not like it's actually going to happen. Besides, I'm not going to turn away from Z, you can count on that."

"But it happened in a vision," Erin pointed out.

"And no matter what we think of her, Aphrodite's visions always have a chance of happening," Shaunee agreed.

"I'm _not_ leaving Zoey," Stark said again.

"Nobody's saying that you will for a fact," JC promised, "but it happened in a vision, and visions don't lie, or they haven't thus far. Plus, Kalona still has some connection to you no matter what I do. There's a _chance_ that Neferet can use that and turn you to Darkness."

"That's another puzzling matter," Damien spoke up, "the three who were turned, they all have been touched by Darkness at some point in their lives, that cannot be denied. But why would Neferet believe you would be the second easiest one to change?" he asked, looking at JC.

"That's a really good question," I agreed. I hadn't really thought much of it since she died like everyone else, but that was a good question.

Now she was the one to shift uncomfortable and look away. Maybe there was more to this than I initially thought…granted, there always is, because a vision can't just be fucking normal.

"Jenny?" Zoey pressed. She still didn't respond.

"Spirit is a volatile element," Sgiach said like it was an answer, "a brush with Darkness remains on someone's soul. Spirit is the essence of someone's soul, therefore it can be marked with both Light and Darkness. One typically has enough balance between the two that it is not a problem, however, time spent reveling in Darkness can throw that balance off, and Spirit will realize this and be marked accordingly. Did you at one time revel in Darkness, Jennifer?"

"After my mother and brother's deaths at the hands of a never caught drunk driver. I was a depressed child who wanted nothing but revenge on the man who took my family away, felt like that for probably two years before I was finally able to come to terms with what happened and let it go," JC answered.

"Do you believe that threw the balance of your soul off?" Sgiach asked.

"For a time, yes. I rebalanced myself as I got older and managed to lock the majority of those emotions away for good, but the coming war with Darkness is making that harder…it still calls to me, to that side of me," she admitted quietly and then found the overly bland wall extremely interesting. Well damn.

"Do you have a personification?"

"If you mean that I have a Dark me that I have spoken with in the past couple of days, then yes," she nodded reluctantly.

"Holy shit," I muttered probably what was on everyone's minds, "so you're potentially evil?"

"NO!" JC exclaimed quickly and with a lot of force. It looked like she was about ready to cry over the whole thing. "No, Goddess no, I'm not evil. There is no way in hell that I ever will be. Goddess, this is why I didn't say anything! I didn't need the whole world to think that the freakily Marked girl of a race who was considered an abomination centuries ago was potentially evil, and I didn't need to lose the trust of the few friends that I had! Besides, it isn't your burden to bear."

We all looked at her in surprise over her little outburst. "Did you honestly believe we'd turn our backs on you over something like this?" Zoey asked, sounding hurt. Honestly, if my cousin just admitted that she had no trust in me…I'd probably be the same way.

"Can you honestly say that you would have stood by me so readily if I had admitted it?" JC answered with a question of her own, "I mean, think about it. In knowing that your cousin was touched by and pulled toward Darkness, a fact that could be easily leaked to the entire vampyre world, would you have stood by me? Because it would've been pretty stupid for you to do so. And besides that, I had no idea what the hell was going on! The first time I talked to me…I woke up in a cold sweat and freaking out because of the emotions and the one thing I thought I had finally put behind me was back and stronger than ever."

"Ya still could've come to us," Bumpkin argued, "we woulda listened and understood. Z still stood by me and Stark and the red fledglings during our time in Darkness."

"But there is a difference, my Red One," Bird Brain responded and looked to JC, "the pull of Darkness is still with us." She nodded in agreement.

"How can it be any different? Darkness is Darkness is Darkness."

"It all falls back to choice," Sgiach spoke up to explain, "the way I've heard it, the red fledglings were brought back from death by the one you call Neferet and forced into servitude with Darkness. You had no choice but to follow if you wanted to survive. However, when Zoey presented you the choice, you both chose Light. Rephaim and Jennifer, however, were given that choice from the start and both chose Darkness for a time. Though their ways may have changed since then, that mark remains on their soul, and thus the pull to Darkness."

"And there is no way that mark can be erased?" Damien asked.

"It can be ignored and hidden away, but there is no way to erase it," the queen answered grimly.

"You still should have come to me!" Zoey exclaimed, glaring at her cousin.

"I know, and I'm sorry," JC sighed, "but I didn't know what to do with myself, let alone what to say to you about the whole thing. Facing your Dark self is a little disconcerting and frazzling," she explained.

"Still, I would've understood, I would've helped you."

"How the hell are you supposed to understand when you're the Goddess's Chosen One for Light?" JC shouted then sighed, running a hand over her face. There was a lot more stressing her out than any of us initially thought. Now I actually did feel kind of bad. "Zoey, please," she begged, "for one, you know how I think…and two, when I don't have my own thoughts together on something, I can't just spurt it out to someone else. I didn't know how to feel about it, let alone how you would react and how everyone else would react. I can't chance that, you know that," she pleaded. Wow did she ever sound desperate.

"C'mon Z, cut her some slack," Dorkamese one piped up.

"Yeah, she obviously freaked out," the other was soon to follow of course.

"And besides, it's not like you haven't kept shit from us, oh Chosen One," I pointed out.

Zoey sighed and shook her head, "any other secrets you're keeping from us?"

JC winced at the word but shook her head, "no, it was just that, I swear on my life."

"And you promise to tell us if anything else weird happens?"

She nodded, "if I can, I will, I promise."

"Fine," Zoey sighed again, "about this other you, what do you know?"

"Hardly anything," JC admitted.

"It is a topic that can and will be discussed in detail later," Sgiach broke in again, "as for this vision, is there anything more that you know about it?"

"It happened in a garden, everyone died or was evil, Darkness ruled…the end," I shrugged, "the only thing different than usual was that it wasn't in that stupid cornfield with burning bodies."

The queen finally nodded, seeming to fall into her own thoughts. You can always tell when old people are thinking, "very well, if that is all then I shall dismiss you back to your classes, or in Aphrodite and Jennifer's cases, back to your rooms for the rest that your bodies need."

"If I may your Highness, I'd really rather _not_ do that," JC spoke up, "my rest tends to lead to visions and various other dreams and meetings that really aren't restful so much as they are stressful. If I can, may I got to class? Or, at the very least, do something at least semi-productive that'll keep me awake until tonight when it is actually time to sleep?"

"I would prefer it you didn't go to class as I don't believe you are physically or mentally able to do so right now after everything that's happened," Sgiach told her, "but I do suppose I can permit you to explore the school grounds until tonight if you so choose. My Warriors can keep an eye on you and you will be informed when dinner is ready."

She grinned, "thank you Queen Sgiach."

"Very well, everyone back to your sixth hour, let's go," the queen said with a smile as she left, everyone else filing out.

Darius helped me up and allowed me to lean on him for support. I didn't _really_ need it, but I figured it was better to just accept it anyway. JC decided to hang back to and walked beside us as Darius made our way back to our room.

"So…you're sure you're alright?" she asked.

"It was a vision, not pneumonia," I answered and rolled my eyes, "I've got my Warrior, I'll be fine. How're you doing Darkness Girl?" I was still a bit surprised over the whole thing. I mean, my High Priestess admitted to being attracted to Darkness. That was one hell of a bombshell.

"Please don't _ever_ call me that again," she threatened and sighed, "but I guess I'm alright for someone who did _not_ want this day to go like this."

"Zoey did not appear to be happy with the new information," Darius pointed out.

"Yeah trust me, I know, you didn't feel the emotions rolling off of her," JC agreed and looked down, "and despite the fact that she seemed to accept my apology, she's still almightily pissed at me, I have _a lot_ of explaining to do...to all of you. I just didn't think she'd be that hurt over it. I mean, I wanted to tell her myself in a much better way. I'm sure that plan not following through made the situation that much worse."

"Sure, when her newly Marked cousin admits that she might possibly have an attraction to Darkness, the soul thing we're fighting against, she was supposed to be perfectly fine!" I exclaimed sarcastically.

"For the love of the Goddess, it's not like I was going to do anything!" she shouted, "this is _exactly _why I didn't tell anyone. There's one person that can understand what I'm feeling and his name is Rephaim. I probably should have gone to him first, but that didn't happen either. I screwed up the chances of this going as smoothly as possible, I know that…but some things like that need time to be able to be understood and explained properly, and the hell if I've had the proper time to do that." Well, I struck a nerve apparently.

"You are stressed, Priestess," Darius said calmly, "why don't you explore the grounds like you said you wanted to and trust that Queen Sgiach will be able to help you with this. None of us _truly_ believe you would do anything against us for Darkness. It was just a large surprise, and many of us need the time to think it over and calm down."

JC nodded and took a deep breath to calm herself down again, "I think I may do just that. I have a lot of things to sort out now apparently, and I can't talk with Zo until after classes end anyway, hopefully by then she'll be a bit more understanding." Probably not seeing as though the secret was huge and a bit of a game changer, but I wouldn't ruin her hope.

"Then we will see you at dinner," my Warrior nodded with a smile as she went off.

As we finished our walk back to our room, I looked up to him and chuckled, "knife throwing, shooting, killing Raven Mockers, talking down overly stressed teenagers, is there anything you can't do?"

"All in a day's work, my beauty," Darius smiled, "now go rest your eyes, I will wake you up when it is time to go to dinner."

I kissed him before obliging, going to our bed and getting the rest my gorgeous eyes needed.

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><p><strong>Pardon me if the Realm of Dreams is going by the wrong name. I think that was its name when Kalona found the connection between him and Stark, but I'm not positive...I can't find my copy of <em>Awakened<em> to check...and Google is absolutely no help to me at all.**


	9. Cards on the Table

**A/N: Ok, I'm trying a bit of a new layout since I'm going to be having a lot to say in the next chapters...**

**Announcements: What is with this new layout? I can't count the number of times I was reading and the new little bar at the top confused me. And just what the hell is image manager, I mean really?**

**With that said, if this chapter sucks, I apologize. I'm going through rp withdraw (because I'm a writing rp dork), and it's hindering my writing (it's all linked somehow, I promise). That also said, POLL POLL POLL! I forgot last chapter to put this, but please, for the love of God, vote in the poll!**

**Oh, summary change...yay or nay? Since the one good thing about the layout change is the more space to summarize, I decided to experiment since I suck at summarizing things anyways. So, good or bad?**

**Characters:**** Aella (L. sohma cullen), Briony (UnderTheWeepingWillow), Jacqueline (AnnieHonson), Annabeth (EmilyLupin77), Emmeline (emilian1398), Minnie (ukrainianelfhorse), (mentions: Azrael (Dreams of the Darkness), Ashton and Ian (AnnieHonson))**

**Song:**** "No Light, No Light" by the ever fabulous Florence+The Machine**

**Disclaimer:**** Unless it's JC, Skylar, Katie, or an unrecognized animal belonging to them, I don't own a part of it.**

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><p><em>Isle of Skye<em>

**JC's POV**

"_You, my dear, are an absolute idiot!"_ That was Quinn, telling me what I already knew.

After watching my darkest and most feared secret be revealed and blow up in my face, I took Darius's advice and did what I told Queen Sgiach I would do, which was explore the outer grounds of the school. I met Quinn along the way, who instantly demanded what happened after I shot out of my room, and I had to explain everything. That got us to our current position of walking out of the castle and Quinn calling me an idiot.

"Yes, I have realized this," I grunted and rubbed at my face, trying my hardest to not freak out, "Goddess, this was the absolute _last_ thing I wanted to happen. I mean, I was going to tell them eventually, but not like this. This was _too_ abrupt, _too_ shocking and I'm sure my trust points with them just plummeted! Quinn, I just…ugh!" Feeling their stares on me after I had to admit to having a Dark side, feeling the emotions coming off of Zoey and Stark, the shock, the fear, and most importantly, the _hurt_ was enough to nearly throw me overboard. I didn't tell them at Tulsa for fear of losing them (among many other things including still being confused myself), I was afraid they'd be afraid and lose all trust in me…and now I might very well have lost them anyway. Way to go, JC. Way. To. Go.

"_Hey, hey, chill out,"_ she muttered and brushed against my leg, "_it's better that it's out now than waiting. It wasn't the ideal way to do it, no, and you probably should have told them sooner, but at least it's out in the open now. Rephaim seemed to understand what you were getting at, so he quite possibly understands what you're going through, and Sgiach can help you too. As for the trust, yeah, I'm not gonna lie, you probably did. But if anyone truly believes that you will just spontaneously turn to Darkness, then they are absolute morons who don't know you well."_

"Yeah…but Quinn, you didn't see Zoey's face or feel what-"

"_If you give her some time to cool off and explain to her rationally why you did what you did without being on the verge of tears, then she'll understand,"_ she cut me off, "_it's not like she's never kept secrets."_

I sighed and let her words sink in. My dog, as usual, was very right. As we walked along the pathway surrounded by flora that I probably couldn't think up in my wildest dreams, I let myself relax just a bit and smiled at her. "Why do you always have to be rational?" I asked.

"_I'm not always, I'm just rational when you need to be,"_ Quinn laughed, "_we're always the opposite of the other, remember? It's why we work so well."_

I chuckled at the truth and nodded. We were always the opposite in our emotions and always kept the other calm. I let us fall back into a silence as I began to actually look around the area again. It was still a bit of a shock to be here for real. I'd always dreamed of coming here (or relatively close to here, hell they were all similar), it was hard to believe that the dream was actually true now. Granted, being here because of Neferet and Darkness dampened the mood some. And Darkness was the reason I was out here now and…ugh…I just love how my mind goes full circle. I hate this so much.

"_C'mon, you need a stress reliever,"_ Quinn spoke up, probably seeing and knowing the wheels that were going in my mind, "_we're not far from the stables, I can smell the horses."_

I laughed quietly to appease her and nodded, "always knowing what I need, lead the way my friend."

I followed her down and around a cobblestone path, taking in just about everything I could along the way. Giant trees were scattered every which way until they gathered into a woodsy type thing behind us, flowers of every size, shape, and color dotted the area, the occasional rodent or bird would pass by, and I think I heard a stream somewhere in the woods behind us. It really was very relaxing and peaceful, I just had to remind myself repeatedly to not overthink it (which is rather paradoxical when you think about it).

The stable building was a large, ancient looking building made out of stone, so it stood pretty sturdy to the weather and time. Walking in, it was much larger than the stables at Tulsa (not that that _really_ surprised me) that was filled with mostly Highland Ponies (again, not really all that surprising being in Scotland and all). The smell of hay and horse and the sounds of soft whinnies and hooves hitting the ground hit me like a wave and I instantly felt better. Hey, I'm a country girl, animals probably comfort me better than people do.

As Quinn and I walked along the rows of stalls, most of the horses ignored us while they ate or drank, a few were not in their stalls at all, probably out grazing or something. It was probably midway through when a gelding noticed us and caught our attention.

"_You're new here, I haven't seen you around before."_

I turned to look at the black gelding, his head hanging over the stall door, and smiled. "That I am, a group of us just flew in here last night," I explained and walked over, leaning against the door next to him, "the name's JC."

He seemed a bit surprised, probably by the fact that I could actually understand him, but he shook it off pretty quickly. "_Caden,"_ he responded, "_are you by chance taking this class?"_

"I certainly hope so, but I haven't gotten a schedule yet, so I don't know," I answered with a weak shrug.

"_Oh,"_ Caden said, "_well, if you do take it and this hour, do you think you could do me a favor and request to ride me?"_

That was a bit of an odd request, but I shrugged again and nodded anyway, "you don't get out this hour I'll take it?"

"_No, I do actually,"_ he answered and shook his mane with a snort, "_but my rider this hour is a total idiot who doesn't know the first thing about horse riding, anyone would be better than him!"_

"Ah, well, how do you know I'd be better than him?" I asked.

"_You're talking to me aren't you? For a vampyre, that is rather uncommon and enough proof."_

I laughed as did Quinn and I nodded, "ok, fair point. I guess if I'm in this class, I'll see what I can do. No promises though."

"For your sake and for mine, I do hope you are talking to the horse." Startled, I jumped and whirled around to see three people standing behind me. The guy who spoke was one of the ones from my encounter in the infirmary, either Skylar or Pace (after Switch led me to my room, I knew and could pick out who he was), one of the girls was Katie, and the other was her friend whose name I did not remember.

"_And there's the idiot now,"_ Caden grumbled and I bit my lip for a moment to keep from smirking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was a class still going on!" I apologized quickly, "and yeah, I was, which yes, I know sounds totally weird and all, but I was and…just let me get out of your way," I finally decided to say and stepped out of the way of the stall. I was so smooth when surprised, let me tell you.

"Not a problem Infirmary Girl, sixth hour is practically over, we were just putting some stuff away and coming back to leave," he explained.

"Infirmary Girl, really?" I asked with a smirk, deciding to brush off how idiotic I probably just sounded. That could be pretty common occurrence, "well, seeing as though you're just as bad at names as I am, JC Redbird. I really only remember Katie, sorry."

"You met my best friend, Aella," Katie said and then looped her arm through his, "and my boyfriend Skylar." Ah, and the girl lays claim, I never did quite understand that. Because very obviously I'm attempting to think of a way to steal some dude I've talked to for a combined 5 minutes from you…though I do admit he was hot (and I'm partial to blondes), most fledglings were.

"Well, nice to re-meet you both," I said and was cut off from the bell ringing to signal the end of the day. Damn that thing was still loud!

"That's the bell, c'mon Skylar, we should probably get an early dinner. A, would you mind checking on Jazz's stall? Thanks," Katie said quickly and was off with Skylar, leaving Aella and I standing there in a bit of confusion.

"_That was a very skillful ditch if I do say so myself,"_ Quinn commented.

"So um…do you want me to check the stall with you?" I asked awkwardly. Seriously, the abrupt leaving was a bit strange and left us in a less than desirable situation.

"I watched Katie lock Jazz in her stall, she just wants to be alone with Skylar because they have some type of plans tonight, I'm not really even sure what. I can't say I really blame them, though. I'll walk out with you," Aella shrugged and we started walking out. "So…do you like it here so far? I mean, I know you've only been here for a day, but…" she trailed off in her attempt to start conversation.

I shrugged my good shoulder, "I haven't seen a whole hell of a lot of this place, but it's beautiful. This has always been a dream of mine to come here, I just wish it was under better circumstances."

She eyed me, looking at my wrapped hand and the bandages sticking out from my shirt, "are things in Tulsa really as bad as some are saying?"

"It depends on what you're reading/hearing," I sighed, "honestly, the majority of the media outlets are downplaying it majorly, which is one of the reason we're having so many problems. One of the many, _many_ reasons we're having problem."

"Well, I still think you're all really brave for what you're doing there, it obviously isn't easy."

"Really brave or really stupid," I commented wryly and smirked, flashing on the conversation I had with Erik, "but thank you. We'll do whatever is needed in service of the Goddess. Anyway, where are you coming from?" I asked, really not wanting to stay on that topic too long. With the way my mind worked, conversations like that potentially led to dangerous thoughts. Or more, with the thoughts my mind was focused on now, it led to dangerous thoughts.

"The three of us, me, Katie, and Skylar all came from Detroit," she answered.

I smirked, "a bunch of city-slickers eh?" I teased, "that's cool. Why'd you all come out here, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Skylar came out here to have more training, he's a really skilled swordsman, has an affinity for it and all, and what better way to train and get better than under the Queen of Warriors herself? Katie just followed suit because they're together, and I…needed a change of scenery mostly," Aella answered, and though the part about her intrigued me, I had a feeling pushing the matter would not end well. I had no reason to intrude anyway.

"Fair enough," I said and sighed, looking up at the night sky. It was getting late, or early was more like it, and I still had a few things to do, the top priority was talking to Zoey, who I hadn't seen or really even felt from since the mishap. I dreaded how that was going to go. Sighing again, I looked around to find we were close to the castle and stopped dead in my tracks. I wasn't ready just yet, I had just finally calmed down and I still had no clue what I was going to say. Yeah, I was delaying the inevitable and that wouldn't really help, but I just didn't want to talk about it yet. "Well, this seems to be your stop. Have fun at dinner, I hope they're serving something good," I commented after a moment longer of thought.

"Aren't you coming to eat dinner?" she asked, clearly confused.

"I will, just not right now, I'm not really hungry…and I haven't finished exploring yet," I gave as an answer. It wasn't an entire lie since both of those were true too, but not the real reason. "It was nice talking to you though, Aella, maybe we'll have some classes together or something," I added and smiled a bit.

"You can call me A. Nice talking to you too JC, and maybe," she agreed with a small, but confused smile and we split, her going back into the castle and me going…somewhere on the isle. I probably just left that girl in total confusion and probably seemed a little strange to her, but oh well. It was a small price to pay to procrastination.

"_She seemed nice,"_ Quinn said, reminding me she was still following me. I nodded in agreement but didn't say anything, really focusing on where we were going and how to get back without getting lost. I really did need to start memorizing the layout anyway.

Within 15 minutes, I found myself on a grassy hill overlooking the beach and ocean surrounding the isle, along with parts of the more woodsy areas. Deciding it was a good spot, I sat down and leaned on my arms behind me only to have pain shoot down my shoulder. Sighing, I shifted to sit cross-legged and stared out at the scenery before me. Like the rest of the isle, it was calm and peaceful and beautiful. On top of that, I was feeling relaxed as I felt rather close to Spirit. I wasn't quite sure why, but I figured it was just the isle itself, and hell, I'd take all the calming feelings I could get, so I wouldn't complain. Point was, if I could just stay there forever, I'd be a happy JC.

"_So, did you figure out what you are going to tell Zo?"_ Quinn asked, dragging me back to reality.

"The truth is really the only thing I can tell her," I answered quietly, feeling like that was the right answer. I hadn't given it too much thought, but what else could I really say to her? She already knew most of the truth anyway. "With both of us being more rational, it should go better."

"_You hope,"_ she added.

"Don't make me doubt this anymore than I am," I warned. I knew I had to talk to her, but that didn't make it any easier or make me want to do it any more. What I really wanted to do was rewind time and make it never happen, but that obviously wasn't possible. My next option after that was to curl into a ball, cry, and live as a hermit for the rest of my life. Who would want to associate with me after learning of my Dark side? "I'm a disgrace," I muttered unintentionally. My filter between my thoughts and my mouth apparently decided to take a break.

"_You're being self-pitying,"_ she retorted, "_you aren't a disgrace. This isn't your fault, you made a choice you didn't understand when you were seven and it's going to follow you for the rest of your life. But you've stood strong against it and haven't done anything to harm another person and you never will. It doesn't make you a bad person that you have this other side of you, it makes you a good person for fighting it so well."_

I looked at my dog for a moment, letting her words sink in. "How can you be so sure of this?" I asked.

"_Because I know you JC, I know all of you and I know the real you,"_ Quinn promised and laid her head in my lap.

I sighed yet again and gently started massaging one of her ears, letting my thoughts get away from me. I was scared as all fuck of the other side of me, whether I'd let it show or not. I knew the Dark me, I knew what she was capable of doing, both to me and to others…and that was scary and depressing. That was the disgraceful part and why I was so ashamed and scared. I could very easily be turned into a destructive, uncaring, killing machine. But at the same time, Quinn was right. I had fought her off for quite a while, and even now, she had yet to gain the upper hand over me. Of course, that could always change with Neferet and Kalona, especially now that they knew about the accident, but it didn't have to either. It depended on me and the ones around me…which led to the fact that the others around me needed to know and have it explained and still maintain their trust in me. The only question was how to do that.

"You're in my spot." The voice startled me back to reality and I turned to see who it came from. A red fledgling with long, black hair in a braid and wearing a snug black tank top and skinny jeans (with a lot of jewelry might I add) was standing behind me, a flute in hand. She didn't make eye contact and her hair obscured my view, but I could tell her eyes were an odd shade of violet and she had rather prominent features. Frankly, she looked kind of like Zoey and I wondered if she had some Native American in her. A black cat with silver eyes stood by her side, seemingly glaring at me and Quinn.

"Um…sorry," I muttered and moved to get up, "I'll just be going then…I didn't realize I was in the way of something." How many times had I embarrassed myself or made a mess today?

"N-no, you can stay," she said after a moment and walked over, carefully sitting down beside me. The cat jumped into her lap and continued her stare down at us. "I just…I just didn't know anyone else knew of this place."

I looked around the area and realized it was kind of secluded. Huh. "If it's any consolation, I wandered her accidentally," I said, "and I won't tell if you won't."

"I never intended to," she responded. I guess the common phrase went unnoticed? I waved it off and we sat in an uncomfortable silence, me looking between her and the ocean, and her eyes focused on her fiddling hands in her lap.

"So, you play?" I asked finally to break the silence and pointed at the flute. Ok, it was a stupid question, because why else would she be carrying the instrument around? But it broke the silence.

She nodded and picked up the flute, examining it. "That's cool, I play too."

She looked up at me, still not directly making eye contact but closer to it. "Is that all you play?" she asked.

"No, I actually started on the clarinet, and it will forever be my favorite, but the flute's fun. I play piano, guitar, and sax too, and sing…I'm not exceptionally good at all of them but hey, it's fun," I shrugged and chuckled a bit, "I've always been called a music geek for it, but I guess if that's the worst of it then I can take it."

She smiled a little bit, "I can understand that."

"I'm JC by the way," I added, realizing neither of us had done such formalities.

"Briony," she said and continued to examine the flute, pressing different keys.

"Would you mind playing?" It was worth a shot.

"W-what?" Briony looked up again, a bit surprised.

"I assume that's what you brought it out here to do," I answered and shrugged, "you could still do that. I need a bit of a distraction anyway."

She seemed hesitant and to debate it, but nodded, "s-sure, why not?" She brought the instrument to her mouth and started playing; I looked at her in surprise as the melody started. She was good, _really_ good. I mean, it wasn't that I thought she wouldn't be, but wow. I refocused my eyes on the ocean and focused on the sad flute melody lilting around me, to the point that it took me a moment to realize when she finally finished.

"You're really good, amazingly so," I told her when she was done.

She shrugged, "I have an affinity for it." I nodded in response. "It's getting kind of late," Briony announced, glancing at the sky, "I haven't eaten dinner yet either, so I should probably be going back in."

"I haven't either actually," I said and got up with her, "would you mind if I came with you? I'm still hopelessly new around here."

She shook her head and we set off back to the castle in a rather surprisingly, calm silence. Quinn and I followed her through the castle since she seemed to know where she was going (and I still didn't have a clue) to the dining hall. It was pretty empty, with only a few fledglings still around…and none of those fledglings were ones that I really needed to talk to. Quickly, I ran a check of Zoey with my bond and discovered she'd already eaten. Still, I did need to eat and Briony didn't seem to have any problem with me, so I followed her through the line, grabbing a piece of chicken and other food along the way, and sat down at a table with her and a few other girls.

"So Briony, who's your new friend here?" the blonde with blue eyes and rather heavy eye makeup asked.

"JC," I answered for myself and looked at her, then the other black haired girl (also wearing a braid) who had her nose buried in a book on the table, the curly haired girl who seemed to be attempting to analyze me, and the red fledgling with auburn hair.

"So you're the Spirit one," the blonde continued with a strange smile, "nice to finally meet you. I'm Jacqueline, you'll probably be seeing me a lot."

"O-k," I said warily and went back to looking at everyone else, "what about the rest of you?"

"I'm Annabeth," curly hair told me, "you came in with the other group from Tulsa, right?"

"Yup," I nodded.

"Emmeline," the red fledgling added and nudged the girl buried in the book next to her.

"Oh, hi!" she exclaimed and grinned at me, "I'm Midnight, but saying Minnie is so much easier. Welcome to the Isle of Skye!"

"Um, thanks," I responded and smiled. The table went silent again and I started digging into my dinner. It wasn't the most attractive sight, but I didn't realize that I hadn't eaten since yesterday and just how hungry that made me until I started eating. As I ate, I looked around the room and noticed that really only one other table was full, and I was curious to know who else was here. "So, can anyone tell me about the rest of the players in this room?" I asked.

"Oh, you mean that table?" Jacqueline asked and pointed back there, a bit of a grimace on her face, "that's the jock crowd and other, random popular kids. The muscular, black haired vamp Warrior is Azrael, he just turned. The long haired blonde next to him is my brother," she paused and grunted, "Ashton. And the third boy over there, the brunette is Ian. The brunette and blonde girls are Aella and Jackie respectively, the sidekicks to Queen Katie, who seems to be missing, along with Skylar," she explained and then paused again, looking past my shoulder. "As for that group, they're new, don't know much about them."

I looked back to find the group that I'd been needing to talk to and sighed, feeling my stomach drop at the fact that I could no longer avoid this. It was now or never, at least I wasn't hungry anymore. "I do know them though, thanks for letting me sit here and eat, I know it wasn't for a long time, but it was nice talking with you, albeit briefly. Now though, there's something I have to do, so if you'll excuse me," I announced and stood up, carrying my half eaten dinner to the garbage and throwing it out.

Quickly, I went over to them and locked eyes with my cousin. "We need to talk," I said and she nodded, her and Stark turning around to walk back out.

"We need to talk _alone_," I reiterated, looking at Stark.

Zo and him seemed to have a bit of a stare down before he nodded and backed off, allowing me to follow Zoey out of the dining hall and then out of the castle.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Zoey's POV<span>**

I know that I should have concentrated on classes today with it being our first day on Skye and all, but after everything that happened, I just couldn't. After the whole vision incident and JC admitting to what she did, my head was swirling. I was mad at her for keeping the secret, but at the same time I felt guilty for my outburst and I felt bad for her. I couldn't imagine what she felt going through it. I just didn't know what to do or feel about any of this, and for some reason I think she felt the same.

We needed to talk again, both of us in a bit more rational state, and we both knew it. That didn't make the thought any less awkward or any more ideal, but it had to be done. I went through all of sixth hour and dinner thinking about that and what I was going to say to her and what she would say to me that the entire end of the day was a blur. Seriously, I remembered _none_ of it.

I wasn't quite sure why we went back to the dining hall after we already ate (something about Shaunee leaving her purse there or something), but it was kind of good we did since JC was there and we agreed to talk. And after convincing Stark I'd be alright and if anything went wrong, she would still protect me, I led her out of the castle and to the beach in silence, other than for her to mumble to Quinn to leave.

"So, are you going to explain why?" I asked, breaking the silence as we walked along the beach. I guess it would have to be me who did it, she didn't know what I wanted to know. Well, she might…but she obviously wasn't talking first.

She smirked bitterly, "depends on what why you want me to answer first."

"Why didn't you come to anyone about this?" I reiterated and looked at her.

JC looked me over for a moment and her eyes lowered, "Zo, I really can't-"

"You could've came to me!" I exclaimed. I intended to listen to her and hear her out, I really did, but I just couldn't hold this back. I was ticked off at her and hurt that she kept this a secret. We were cousins, we were close!

"Yeah, but Zoey, c'mon…"

"Honestly, we would've understood," I added, cutting her off again, "some of us have been through it, we could've helped."

"Please, Z…"

"And I thought we were close!"

"For the love of the Goddess!" JC cried, getting me to shut up, "I made a damn mistake! A pretty huge ass mistake, but a mistake none the less. I understand you're pissed, hell, I'm pissed at myself for what happened, but I'm not going to sit here and let myself be prosecuted over something that you've done too! I know I'm not going to fix this right away, but if I can't get a word in to defend myself and explain the situation, how am I supposed to even _start_ making things better?" she shouted and turned away, taking a few breaths. "Maybe this was a bad idea for now, I should just go, we can try this later," she said much more calmly, and started walking back to the castle.

"JC…Jenny, wait," I called and she turned back around, "I'm sorry, but you have to understand what I'm feeling right now after that bombshell."

"I do, quite literally actually," she agreed, "I can feel them rolling off of you in waves. But _you_ have to understand the kind of situation I'm in too. Can we just…restart this so I can explain the timeline and everything?"

"That sounds good," I nodded and we continued our path on the beach, "so…when did all this start?"

"The first real thing was my first day of class, somehow Neferet figured out that I could see it and had a slight attraction, that's why she wanted me to stay after she was done talking to the two of us together," JC started and sighed, biting her lip, "the second thing was actually a false alarm. I had a dream I was in Nyx's Grove talking to Jack, and before you ask we were literally just talking about random crap and yes I have talked to Damien somewhat about it, when I was pulled out by something. I thought it was Darkness, but in reality it was my affinity because Kalona was trying to interfere with you or Stark. That's what pushed me to talk to Lenobia…"

"Ok, can I interrupt?" I asked and she stopped with a nod, "how many times have you talked to Jack? And what did Lenobia say?"

"I've spoken to Jack all of twice, that time and once on the way here. I didn't say anything because nothing important has been spoken about and I don't want to pick at and reopen healing wounds," JC answered and looked at me, "we both know what losing someone like that is like and the feelings that go with it. As for Lenobia, well I told her everything up to that point, the attraction and the dream. She said Spirit vampyres could see Darkness because of the connection they had to Otherworld magick through their element, but the attraction was less common. There's a theory about 'martyrs,' vampyres who had darker guide animals that were attracted to Darkness because of it and they had to follow a very strict following of the Goddess and never use their affinity for themselves, lest they started a battle with their inner Darkness and lost their minds or turned."

I stared at my cousin for a moment in surprise. Wow. "Well, for Jack, I can understand because I probably would've done the same thing admittedly, I don't want Damien to hurt any more than he has to. And the second part, wow."

"Yeah, after that was when I started having confrontations with the personification of my Darkness, a few dreams, and she was also part of the reason I broke the mirror with my fist. I repressed her for a long while after the accident ten years ago, but the Darkness that we're faced with now…reawakened her I suppose you could say. The only thing I can do against her is fight, but when Neferet and Kalona know all about it, that makes it hard," she sighed.

"How do they know?" I asked, confused. There was a hell of a lot of backstory to this.

"They're Neferet and Kalona?" JC asked herself and shrugged, "all I know is that Neferet knows a lot, about all of us…and it's unnerving beyond belief. And judging by your confusion, remember all that information I promised to tell you about yesterday when we weren't around prying ears? Yeah, I found out by sneaking into Neferet's office and finding that information out about her and Kalona teaming up," she explained, sensing my confusion.

"JC!"

"Yeah, I know, stupid idea, as already said by Gwen and Zane, but it had to be done," she answered, "oh, and Aphrodite, Rephaim, and Lenobia already know this, but the thing with Dragon and Anastasia that exhausted me, I made her ghost appear."

I stared at her in shock and she chuckled, "yeah, I'm just laying all my cards on the table. I learned it from Indy's book, Spirit vampyres could make ghosts who had unfinished business appear to free themselves back to Nyx's Grove. Anastasia had some unfinished business with Dragon, I made it happen with the help of the book, and it took a shitload of power from my body…so you won't be seeing that happen again for a while."

"I just don't get it though," I said after letting everything she said sink in. It was _a lot_. "Why did you keep all this from me?"

My cousin paused and looked out at the ocean, "there's that word again. The Jack thing I explained, all the stuff I just told you, I wasn't keeping from you, I just didn't want to explain when we had the chances for fear of Neferet hearing and eating me."

I giggled despite myself and then got serious as I realized she left something out, "and the Darkness?"

"Always back to this," JC sighed and stared out at the ocean another moment before turning to face me. Her face became dark, not like the evil stuff, but tormented and pained, "Zoey, have you ever stared into the eyes of what you know to be the Darkness and evil of your own soul?" I shook my head and she smiled bitterly, "then you're never going to be able to fully understand my explanation as to why I kept it to myself."

"Try, for me?" I asked, almost begging. With that look, I didn't know if I could remain mad at her, but I knew she needed to talk about it, to get it out of her system, at least a little bit.

She looked to the ground in what seemed to be shame then nodded. "_I was disappearing in plain sight, Heaven help me, I need to make it right. You want a revelation? You want to get it right? But it's a conversation I just can't have tonight. You want a revelation, some kind of resolution? You want a revelation? No light, no light in your bright blue eyes, I never knew daylight could be so violent. A revelation in the light of day, you can't choose what stays and what fades away. And I'd do anything to make you stay, no light, no light. Tell me what you want me to say. Would you leave me if I told you what I'd done? And would you leave me if I told you what I'd become? 'Cuz it's so easy to sing it to a crowd but it's so hard, my love, to say it to you out loud."_

Leave it to JC to figure out a way to express everything she was feeling in song, but to be so horrible at doing so in words. "Zoey, I found out what I was and I was ashamed and disgusted with myself along with upset and scared, and really…there was just a ball of emotions in my stomach. I know what the Dark me can do because I am her, you've seen what my temper can do, multiply by 20 and you have her. I couldn't put you in that kind of trouble or put that kind of burden on you or anyone else in Tulsa with the chance of Neferet and Kalona knowing…and even I did, what would I say? Saying that I was attracted to the very evil we are facing, I was afraid of what that meant and what you would do. Only a few days into being Marked and launched into this whole thing, Zo, I couldn't chance losing what little friends and trust I had," she explained quietly and crossed her arms defensively, "and I've probably screwed it up anyway."

"Jenny," I muttered and went over, hugging her, "you aren't going to be alone in this, I promise you that because we won't let you be alone. Yeah, you did screw up pretty badly, but that's not to say that it can't be fixed. We're on Skye now, Sgiach knows a lot more than we can ever hope to, we can fix this."

"I know…I know, that's what I'm hoping for," she agreed and let out a breath, returning the hug then pulling away, "still mad?"

"Not nearly as much, my anger is more directed at your stupidity than you now," I teased. It was true though, I was still kind of mad at her for what she did, but at least I understood now.

"Well, no one ever said I was the smartest," JC chuckled.

"Says the AP student." She shrugged, we both laughed, and we walked back along the beach to the castle quietly.

"Do you know where you're going? We're like, three doors apart I do believe," I said when we got back to my door.

"I think with that information I can handle myself," she nodded and hesitated, "are you sure you're alright with this? Because, I really could understand if you weren't…"

"You're just a mix of emotions, aren't you?" I asked, half-joking.

"I can't even begin to explain everything I'm feeling and felt right now," JC answered and sighed.

"We're fine, or we will be," I promised, "go to bed, it's getting late and you're expected in class tomorrow. You need to sleep at some point, after all."

"I'd seriously debate that right now," she grumbled, "but alright, if you say so. I'll see you in the morning then, I guess."

"You will, good night cuz," I said and opened the door. Yes, I used our typical names to assure her we'd be alright, luckily she picked up on it.

JC smiled a bit and waved slightly, "g'night cuz."

"So, it went well I'm hoping?" Stark asked as I walked into the room, slipping out of my shoes.

"As well as it could for talking about my cousin's attraction to Darkness," I said and grabbed some old clothes to change into for bed.

"And how well can that go?"

"Alright," I shrugged and walked into the bathroom to change, leaving the door open, "I mean, it was a hell of a topic, but it went pretty well. I know where she's coming from now, I understand what was going through her mind, and I promised we'd help her get through it."

"We are?" he asked.

"She's family, Stark," I answered, walking out of the bathroom and going to the bed, "she kept the information from us to protect us, which, in JC's twisted thought process, makes sense…and besides that she's done enough to prove herself. Betting on her is even less of a risk than what I did with you or Stevie Rae," I added and glanced up to him.

"I guess you have a good point there," he agreed and smirked, pulling me in his arms and laying back, "so if she's alright, everything's good."

"As good as it can be for the situation we're in," I corrected and moved to snuggle into his chest, "I just want to know when my cousin became such a mature, lone wolf."


	10. Game Changer

**A/N: **

**Announcements: The ever changing fanfic layout...gotta love it. Anyway, sorry for the wait again, real life hit harder than I expected it to. I also apologize for any spelling or grammar errors in this, it's late at night and I really wanted to get this out before I went to bed, so it hasn't been edited quite as well.**

**New story should be coming around soon called The Magician's Trick. The only problem? I need characters, so please check out the SYOC 2 if you haven't already! I know, you're probably sitting there thinking 'well, she hardly uses my character now anyway, why should I make another?' Chaos had a plot already planned out surrounding the Nerd Herd and JC and I intend to follow it, sometimes that means your character doesn't get as much writing time or whatever. The Magician's Trick is all OC, so I don't have to stay in canon and it literally follows the story of those OCs...they will be used _a lot_.**

**I'm also tempted to delve into the wonderful world of Korra fic. Any fans of Legend of Korra? Think I should attempt it?**

**Characters:**** Violet (Dreams of the Darkness)**

**Review Number: I'm just curious to see who all is still actually reading, so if you are, drop me a review please? At least 3 reviews would be quite awesome and might motivate me enough to get another chapter out in the next couple of days ;)**

**Disclaimer:**** Nothing's mine, nothing's mine! Don't sue me!**

* * *

><p><em>Tulsa<em>

**Gwen's POV**

With classes being canceled again and ignoring the growing unrest over Dee's death, it was a pretty boring day. Granted, there really is no way to ignore the death of a classmate not at the hands of the Change when the gossip of it was everywhere. All that was really talked about was the death and the new student, Violet. At least other people besides us saw the striking coincidence in the timing, and it brought about mad theories from everyone.

"Maybe she killed Dee to get into our House of Night! She really wanted to come here to develop her affinity more, Neferet is the best vamp to help her do that."

"I bet you she had help from her human family too. Well, she had to if she was still at her old House."

"Maybe her friends too. Even if Dee was a fledgling, it'd take a lot to subdue her and kill her like that."

Those were the theories floating around the main room as I walked past to get some food for me and Maggie. Either I was the only one who had spoken with her or people were really stupid. If there was one thing I knew from our little conversation, it was that Violet did _not_ want to be here. Sighing, I attempted to block out the gossip as I collected some food for us and walked back up to Maggie's room.

What I returned to was a rather interesting sight and I stood in the doorway, watching for a few moments as my girlfriend had a stare-off with her kitten. "Now, go fetch!" Maggie exclaimed and that's when I lost it, startling both her and Belle. "And just what is so funny?"

I chuckled and walked over to the bed, plopping the various snacks on the bed. "You and Belle. You do realize kittens don't fetch, right?" I asked with a smirk.

"It was worth a shot," she shrugged.

I looked at the kitten and shook my head, "what I would give to have JC here right now, _just_ to know what Belle was thinking."

"Ok, Miss Animal Expert, what do you suggest I do?" Maggie asked and crossed her arms.

As an answer, I gently gathered Belle in my arms, she gave a squeak of protest, but quickly settled onto my lap as I set her down again and scratched behind her ears. "Oreo used to love this when he was younger," I explained and smiled when the kitten started purring.

She blew out a breath and muttered under her breath, "I should be better at this."

"This is what, day 3? Less maybe?" I asked, "you'll get better, I've had Oreo for a year. Don't worry, within a month, Belle will have you trained."

"Don't you mean the other way around?"

I laughed and shook my head, "no, no I don't."

Maggie sighed and nodded, "alright, if you say so. Now, what do we got to eat up here?"

"Various snacks and a certain amount of stupidity," I answered, the last part slipping out as I remembered the conversations going on downstairs. I chuckled when she gave me a confused look and decided to explain, "there are so many theories floating about this new girl. People are actually thinking that she killed Dee to get a spot opened up so she could transfer!"

Grabbing a package of fruit snacks I brought up, she seemed to think over this new information. Finally, after tearing the package open, she looked at me and shrugged, "at this point in time, is that really hard to believe? I mean, I know we thought it was Neferet, but don't you think it would be possible that it could be someone else?"

"No!" I exclaimed quickly, but after stopping to think about it, I changed my mind, "yes. Maybe. Goddess, I don't know anymore!" I groaned and fell back on the bed, "after talking to her, she really doesn't seem to want to be here. Why would she kill someone to go somewhere she doesn't want to be?"

"You really got that feeling from her?" Maggie asked.

"She's less than thrilled to be here so…yeah, I did," I nodded, "this is Neferet's doing, it has to be."

"You seem convinced of that," she pointed out.

"The timing is too coincidental, Darkness was _everywhere_ on Dee, Violet said herself that the transfer came as a surprise to her; if that doesn't reek of Neferet then I don't know what does," I explained and sighed, "for once I want to be ahead of Neferet. I want to know what she's planning with this and with Violet, but we literally have nothing besides those three things."

"And just exactly how do you intend to get that information?" she asked.

"Beats the hell out of me. JC was right in saying there's very little we can do right now but wait," I muttered and groaned again, "but waiting is just going to lead to something bad, I just know it."

"The only way to know what's going on is to ask Neferet herself."

I smirked wryly, "meaning we're never going to know. Truthfully, that's unnerving."

We remained silent for a few moments and Maggie gazed out the window. "You know, I miss the days when the only thing we had to worry about was my roommate walking in on us making out on my bed," she commented after another moment.

I smiled a bit, "those were the days. Too bad they're over," I admitted and stared at the ceiling. That was when it hit me, her comment about Neferet. "We need to talk to Lenobia!" I announced and sat up.

Maggie stared at me like I had just lost my mind, "well now I'm confused."

"What you said about Neferet and that's how we know what's going on," I said and she was still confused, "professors usually get notices about new students transferring and their reasoning. Lenobia should know about this at least a bit, she can help us figure out just what the hell it is that's going on."

"That's logical, but with the abruptness of the transfer, do you really think she'll know anything?" she asked a bit skeptically.

I shrugged, "it's worth a shot. Has curfew been lifted?" I asked, looking for a clock.

"It's quarter after 12," she whipped out her phone and told me, "so yeah, we can leave."

"Great, call the guys and tell them to meet us at the stables, I want them to be in on this too," I ordered and got up, going over to my own phone.

"Yes ma'am," Maggie chuckled and pressed her phone to her ear.

I let her talk to whichever one of them she chose and disconnected my phone from its charger. JC hadn't contacted me since our last conversation, not that I expected her to. With how time zones worked, I didn't even know if she was still awake. Granted, with how JC worked, I could only imagine the endless possibilities that she could get herself into right now. Still, I debated on calling her or sending her a text or something with this new info we had. She didn't know about Violet coming in, which she probably should know. But then I figured what was the point? If Lenobia had any information regarding this, I'd just have to contact her again anyway. Of course, no matter how much I hoped, there was still a chance the Horse Mistress didn't have any clue what was going on, but still, there was a chance.

"They'll be down at the stables in a few, c'mon, let's go," my girlfriend announced, pulling me out of my contemplations. I nodded and followed after her out the door. Downstairs proved to have similar conversations as before; everyone seemed to be transfixed on this new student and how she possibly could be connected to Dee's murder. Everyone assumed she had some hand in the death, and of course no one figured "Saint Neferet" could have anything to do with it, I had to repress the urge to scream at them pretty quickly. I mean, I could understand (_understand_ not accept) where they were coming from…but that didn't make it any easier to not want to knock some sense into them.

"Wow, they're already prepared to persecute the poor girl," Maggie commented once we were outside, "I didn't think it was _quite_ that bad. Granted, I didn't think _that_ many people loved Dee either."

"I don't think they did," I admitted as we continued to our destination, "but when one of their own dies and an outsider comes in…it's not going to bode well. Plus, Violet isn't the most, uh, sociable person there is," I added.

"I guess if I didn't know what was fueling that logic, I could accept it," she conceded with a sigh.

"Fueling what logic?" Luke asked as we approached the stables. All three of them were already out waiting in front for us, I had to wonder how they got there first.

"And why are we here?" Zane added, "despite the horrible circumstances classes were canceled under today, I kinda intended to use it to sleep. What gives?"

I sighed, "do you guys know about the new girl that came like, four hours ago?"

"Aside from the few guys who have seen her claiming she is insanely hot? No, not much is known," Harley answered.

"Though, if what they say is true, I _know_ I want to meet her," Zane said with a small smirk.

"Figures," I muttered and rolled my eyes. Girls fixate on harsh rumors and plans for revenge on a presumably innocent, if not really unlucky, bystander, guys look for hotness. If that wasn't so utterly stereotypical, it'd be funny. "Well, it'll be explained in a few moments, I think Lenobia may be able to give us some information on her," I explained as we went into the stables. "Lenobia!" I called out.

"Why do we need information on her?" Harley asked.

Maggie took up explaining for me, "a lot of the girls think she killed Dee to get a spot in Tulsa. While that's doubtful, the timing is way too coincidental. Gwen thinks Neferet is up to something, I have to agree there."

"The timing _is_ insanely close," Luke agreed just as the professor we were looking for appeared.

"Gwen? Is everything alright, are you all ok?" Lenobia asked upon seeing us, instantly fearing the worst it seems.

"We're all alright," I assured her.

"Is everything ok with JC and Zoey?"

"As far as I know, I talked to JC a little while ago and she sounded tired, but alright," I explained, choosing to leave out JC's little incident on the plane.

"If everyone is alright, what do you all need?" she asked and behind her, I saw Daniel Kier come out of her office looking slightly worried as well. I chose not to comment on that just then (though I couldn't hide the small smirk), there were other pressing issues.

"We were wondering what, if anything, you knew about this new student, Violet Winters," I answered.

"There are some rather crazy rumors going around about her and what happened with Dee. While we don't believe them, there is a bit too much of a time overlap with the two," Maggie added, "we think Neferet has something planned."

Lenobia sighed and looked to her stalls for a few moments. "I wish I could help you, but I know about just as much as you do. Neferet was looking to bring her here a few days ago but was rejected by the High Priestess. Today she appeared out of nowhere with no warning," she told us, "other than the more adamant High Priestess and Dee's murder, the situation is very much like Stark's."

Harley's head shot up at the last sentence and his brown eyes sparked, he was on to something apparently. "How is it like Stark's, if I may?" he asked.

"Well, none of us professors had much to go off of. All we knew was Neferet was very interested in bringing them here and both of them wound up here a few days later without much warning to us. Stark was easier to move out here because of his archery incident and his desire to get away from that, I don't know about Violet…"

"She doesn't seem like she wants to be here, or is very thrilled about the transfer. Based on what you said, neither was her High Priestess," I cut in and looked to my friend, "Har, what are you thinking?"

"Neferet presumably wanted to bring Stark in for his affinity, that's the general assumption now. After the events that freed Kalona, it's pretty much a fact," he explained, "what if…what if this girl is the same way?"

"That's a plausible assumption based on the few days I've been here and observing what's going on," Daniel spoke up for the first time.

Lenobia nodded in agreement, "at this point, anything is possible…and with similar circumstances, it is quite possible. Her affinity wasn't given on the memos we received about her, but neither was Stark's…the only reason we knew it was for archery was because of his past accomplishments in the field." We all fell into a silence as we contemplated this. Was it possible Neferet had recruited this girl because of an affinity? And how did that connect to murdering Dee? I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, all of this was related.

"If Neferet is enlisting her for her affinity, that's one damn powerful affinity," Maggie pointed out into the silence.

"We need to know what it is…if it's crucial to Neferet's plans, whatever they may be…we need to know what her affinity is," I said with conviction.

"How do you suggest we do that though?" Luke asked.

"You're probably not going to like my answer but, have you tried talking to the girl?" Lenobia asked.

I nodded, "I have…she's not the most sociable person, as I told Mags."

"Still, we have to find a way to get around that, she's our best bet to get down to what's going on _before_ it happens," Harley agreed with the notion of speaking to her.

"With Neferet though, that's still a pretty slim bet," Zane retorted with a sigh, "it's worth a shot, but we can't get our hopes up. No one has ever been ahead of her before."

"Point taken, but we still have to try," Luke said.

"And I would suggest doing that soon, as in within the day," Lenobia added, "the sooner you can find anything out, the better."

"This should be interesting," Maggie muttered, "it's almost lunch. We can plan our approach over food."

"Sounds like a deal to me," I nodded and looked around, "unless you and Daniel want to join us in figuring out just exactly what it is we have to do."

"You'd probably be better off to talk to her as a student with a student approach," Daniel said to decline, "go do what you need to do."

"Then let's go!" my girlfriend exclaimed and, despite on crutches, was out of the stables in a heartbeat. I shook my head as we followed her out…we just had food, though not a full course meal…Maggie ate like a pig, I'd learned to just not question it.

When we got to the dining hall, most of the student body was already there, so we got our lunch relatively quick and chose a seat near our intended target. Maggie pointed her out, she was sitting alone at a corner table, eating and either staring at nothing or watching everyone else, it was hard to figure out which.

"So…how we gonna do this?" Zane asked, breaking the tension filled silence as we all ate and alternated giving quick, nervous glances at Violet.

"I feel like we are thinking about some dangerous mission," Luke sighed, "we're talking to a fledgling who is new…this _shouldn't_ be hard."

"We weren't this apprehensive around JC, or each other…sure there was a little bit of awkwardness but…it wasn't this bad," Harley agreed with Luke, "I feel like all we should do is go talk to her like we would anyone else."

"That can be done!" Zane grinned and stood up, "I'll be right back."

All of us knew what he was going to do. "Zane…wait," I called and watched his retreating figure for a moment. He didn't stop and I sighed, turning back to the group, "alright, so when Zane's charming technique doesn't work, how are we going to fix that and convince her we aren't _all_ nuts?"

"Explain to her that Zane is a moron on so many levels…" the rest of Maggie's suggestion was cut off as a scream rang out through the dining hall. My eyes immediately went back to our friend and Violet to have my suspicion, and fear, confirmed. Zane was on the ground nearly in the fetal position, knees drawn up to his chest and face contorted in pain. Violet was standing over him, glaring.

"What the hell?" I gasped out and was up with the rest of my table, running over to the scene. I literally skidded to Zane on my knees, resting my hand on his cheek in an act of comfort, "Zane, what's wrong?" I asked gently.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Harley demanded.

Out of the corner of my eye, Violet crossed her arms defensively, "you should be asking what he did to me in order to provoke this."

"Zane, what's going on, where did she hurt you?" Luke asked, kneeling down beside me. All both of us got as a response for some time was him muttering incomprehensibly about bears and me and Maggie.

"Like hell I should!" Maggie shouted. Great, well she was pissed. "Zane may be a bit of a flirt, but nothing to warrant this. Now answer my friend, what the _hell_ did you do to him?"

"Well, maybe your player of a friend should learn to control himself better," Violet answered coldly, "and why should I answer you in the first place?"

"And maybe you should learn to answer the damn question no matter _who_ asks you," my girlfriend retorted. By now, we collected the majority of the dining hall around us as they watched the scene unfold, me and Luke still by a trembling Zane and Harley and Maggie standing off to the suspected murderer.

"What is going on here?" a powerful voice demanded and it felt like a wave of Darkness crashed into me. I glanced up for a moment to confirm my fear, Neferet. Her cold green eyes scanned the scene and I thought I saw a smirk cross her face. "Violet, did you start this?" she asked.

"Started, no, he did. I am the reason he is on the ground like that," the girl answered matter-of-factly.

"Violet, come with me," Neferet ordered briskly, and then like an afterthought, turned to us gathered around Zane, "and bring the boy to the infirmary."

"It's only his worst fear, he'll recover soon enough," Violet informed us with an uninterested shrug, "and the next time you want to learn about me and my affinity, _don't _do it this way," she added, then followed after Neferet.

"Only his…why you little…"

"Harley don't," I ordered and stuck out my hand in front of him, "you don't either, Maggie. Just help me and Luke get him to the infirmary," I said, and with the help of Harley and Luke, picked up our whimpering friend and was off.

"Can you only imagine what he'd say when he finds out about all this?" Harley asked half way there, "he's going to be so utterly embarrassed."

"That's the least of my concerns right now," I muttered, "what the hell happened to him? What did she do? How did she do it?"

"She said something about his greatest fear?" Luke answered, more as another question than anything. None of us knew what just happened. Ugh, it would figure that in our search for answers we just wind up more confused…and Zane winds up getting hurt.

We got Zane to the infirmary and explained (or at least tried to the best of our ability) what happened to the nurses. They took him back into a room and we were forced to wait in the designated waiting room until they could either figure out what was wrong with him or calm him down…or even more preferably, both.

"When I see that girl again, I swear to the Goddess I will give her a lesson she'll never forget! Zane may be an idiotic, attempting player, but he never goes too far! Nothing to excuse what she did to him!" Maggie was muttering angrily, pacing awkwardly with her crutches and brown eyes burning.

"And how are you going to teach her a lesson with a plastered leg and two crutches?" I asked matter-of-factly and looked up at her. In my head, the idea was crazy…but it suddenly hit me that she could very easily turn those into a weapon.

"Are you saying you aren't angry about this?" Luke asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"No, I'm almightily pissed about this, and even more so, I'm damn well tired of shit like this happening," I answered and sighed, "but I'm still trying to be _reasonable_. Even with everything that's happened, we can't just go declaring fights against students all willy-nilly like this."

"The girl's already be considered for murder…for the first time since all this started, we'd probably have the school on our side," Harley pointed out.

"And that's probably what Neferet wants." I was cut off from my logical response about how that didn't matter and how the students were all still brainwashed drones by Luke. We all stopped and looked at him like we'd been slapped in the face.

"How do you figure that?" my girlfriend asked what the three of us were thinking.

"After everything that's happened, it's entirely logical," he shrugged, "in case you haven't noticed, Neferet hasn't gained any power by things being calm around here. The entire student body turning on one person only creates and harvests more hatred, only makes things more chaotic…and then she swoops in like a saving grace for us and everyone loves and idolizes and follows her more. With Zoey and Stevie Rae and JC gone, she needs someone else to turn everyone against, and Violet is a pretty easy target.

We were all silent after that, taking in Luke's explanation. I didn't know what everyone else was thinking (and I chose not to invade their privacy), but I knew that made a lot of sense, there was no denying that. "D-do you really think Neferet is _that_ conniving?" Harley asked.

"Do you really think she's _not_?" he asked to answer, "I mean, I'm not saying she entirely planned out what happened to Zane…but she has to know what Violet's affinity is, whatever the hell that may be, and she has to know what Violet's attitude is, which seems to be a 'doesn't take shit' type of thing. Add in the circumstances of which she came here, whatever those are, and the timing…and it's a recipe for disaster."

I blew out a breath and closed my eyes, a new feeling of dread washing over me at this possibility. "Forget being one step ahead, we need to be _six_ steps farther just to be caught up with her," I groaned.

"And there's still a lot of blanks we don't know about," Maggie added in glumly.

I sighed and hung my head, shoving my hand in my pocket and fishing for my phone. I knew what I needed to do. "I'm going to call JC," I announced and stood up with my phone in hand, "we may not know a whole lot, but they need to know what's going on here."

"I agree," Harley nodded, "we'll get you if Helena comes out."

I nodded and walked out of the room, standing in the lobby of the infirmary. I pressed call and waited. One ring, then another, then another…my phone continued to ring until her voicemail picked up and I sighed heavily. Damn time zone differences.

"Hey JC, it's me. Listen, I know you're probably busy, but we really need to talk. Some things have happened and…well…it's better if I tell you when you're on the phone. Call me back ASAP, bye," I left a message and snapped my phone shut, turning on my heels and back into the waiting room. "She didn't pick up," I told them and sat back down.

Not a moment later, Helena walked in. "He's stable and calm now, he seemed to be in shock for a bit there but we calmed him out of it. We want to keep him overnight to monitor him just to be safe, but you can see him now," she told us and led us back to Zane's room.

We walked in the room to find Zane lying on one of the cots, sheet pulled up to his waist, and him seemingly calmer and less in pain, but eyes still darting around nervously. When he saw us come in, specifically me and Mags, he let out a sigh of relief, "thank Goddess you're alright."

"Thank Goddess _we're_ alright?" Maggie asked in surprise, "thank Goddess _you're_ alright, you were the one that dropped in the dining hall. What the hell happened to you?"

"Mags," I hissed in a warning. If anything, she wasn't the most sensitive person.

"It's alright, Gwen," Zane waved us off and gave a slight smile. It faltered when he started explaining though, "I'm still not entirely sure what happened. I went over to try and talk her up, give her the old Zane charm and work my magic. She seemed to get annoyed by it though and told me to 'fuck off.' I didn't think much of it and continued, joking she was hard to get. I met her eyes and the next thing I know…I was in a fucking nightmare. Goddess, I don't even know, I was transported to a forest at night and I just started running. What I wound up running into…" he paused and swallowed loudly, "there were four bears, four of them. They were tearing you two to shreds and I just…I couldn't stop them no matter what I did. I failed you guys and then…they started advancing on me and it…" his voice trailed off there, already weak from the rest of the explanation. The heart monitor he was hooked up too started beeping erratically and I knew we had to calm him down.

"Man, that sounds terrible, dude," Luke muttered and went over next to the bed, "but it didn't actually happen. Gwen and Maggie are still here and alive, no bears or anything of the sort," he added soothingly.

"I know, I know," Zane mumbled out, and though I knew he'd refuse it later, I saw tears in his eyes, "but it felt so _fucking_ real, and I couldn't escape from it!"

"But it's over now," I reassured him and went to stand on the opposite side of the bed from Luke, "it wasn't real and now it's over. Maggie and I are still alive and kicking…and no bear is ever going to be the death of us. Right?" I asked with a smile and looked to Mags.

"Damn straight," she agreed with a grin, "there's no way in hell I'm getting my ass handed to me by a bear!"

"Y-you two promise?" he asked and looked between us.

"We promise," I nodded, "now I think it's probably best if we let you alone to get some rest after that whole ordeal. The nurses are keeping you here overnight…and surely they're going to kick us out at some point, is that alright with you?"

Zane nodded weakly but still seemed a little on edge, "sure, of course, I mean…it makes sense. The nurses don't want you here _all_ night," he agreed.

"We just wanted to make sure you were alright, and clearly we weren't helping matters any it seems," Maggie said, referring to his previous freak out. Yeah, I didn't want to do that to him again, "so we're going to go and leave you some peace. Get better, and I promise you, nothing is going to happen to us, _any_ of us."

"You better hold on to that promise," he muttered but nodded, "yeah, go, it's alright. I'm pretty damn tired after all of that anyway," he agreed, "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you will," Luke agreed with a nod, "get better and you will. Good night Zane," he said for all of us and we filed out.

Once we were back in the waiting room, we paused, deciding what to do next. "I don't want to just leave him," Harley, who had been strangely silent throughout our meeting, "he seemed freaked out. I feel horrible to let him just spend the night here alone."

"Maybe one of us should stay here then? Clearly not all of us can stay, but someone staying can't hurt anything," Luke suggested with a shrug.

"Yeah, yeah maybe," Harley nodded and looked back to the room, "I'm his roommate, I'll stay. You guys go, I'm sure you want to get in touch with JC anyway and you can do some more snooping around or whatever, I want to make sure he's alright," he offered.

At that moment it occurred to me just how close those two were. Harley and Zane were roommates, but they were also best friends, and though they would pick on each other and seemed to be polar opposites, they really did have a bond between them. It had to have been hard for Harley to see him go through that. "Keep him sane," I agreed with a smile, "don't let him fret over us anymore."

"I will, thanks Gwen," he responded and disappeared back to Zane's room. That left the three of us to head out of the infirmary and back to the dorms or wherever.

"So, are we going to do anymore snooping tonight?" Luke asked quietly as we walked.

"I don't know about you two, but after the events that happened, I don't want to chance it," I answered.

"Understandable…and I can't believe I, of all people, am going to say this, but I think staying out of trouble is the best way to go," Maggie agreed with a small smirk.

"Fair enough," Luke nodded, "I'm probably just going to go back to the dorm and watch TV or something, get my mind off of everything for a bit. Bye girls, let me know if you get a hold of JC and she has any explanations," he added and waved to us as he veered off the path towards the guys' dorms.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," I muttered as Maggie and I went into the girls' dorms, "I think I'm just going to go back to my room and read, get my mind off of things, and try to contact JC of course."

"Damn, and here I was hoping you'd come back to my room," she joked, "ah well, I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to after all of that. My leg's hurting like a bitch anyway, so I'm probably going to rest it up. Let me know when you get some info," she said and kissed me on the cheek before we parted ways.

I got back to my room and did exactly what I said. I curled up on my bed, Oreo at my side, grabbed _Eragon_, and read basically until it was time for me to go to bed. The only times I took a break was when I attempted another two times to call JC, to no avail, and texted her. Yeah, a little extreme and I probably seemed annoying, but I was desperate to let her know what was going on. No, I didn't even eat dinner, but judging by the fact that no one came to get me, they probably didn't either. I wasn't hungry and sure as hell didn't want to go back to the dining hall anyway, so all the better.

It was when I couldn't force my eyes to stay open anymore that I put my book down and went to bed, falling asleep on never-ending thoughts about all the possibilities that could explain the events of that day. The past two days seemed to be game changers beyond what I could comprehend.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Neferet's POV<span>**

I was quite happy with the choices I made. After witnessing firsthand the power that girl wields, I held no regrets. There were times during the day I foolishly questioned my choice to kill Dee, she was an ally who was willing to do anything for me. But seeing Violet and her affinity at action, I realized there was little left that girl _could_ do for me. She held no affinity, and once a vampyre, there was much doubt she would have much control over the fledgling population. No, this trade off was quite valuable.

The bonus came with the fact that other fledglings were suspicious of their newest peer. Their confusion and hatred and suspicion only fueled Darkness further as they slowly began to question and turn against Violet. It was unexpected, I never figured they would be so smart as to put that together, even if it was a fallacy. Of course, that would be fixed if the girl were to join me, but for now, the power was welcomed.

I didn't expect to get the chance to talk with her about certain topics so soon after her arrival either. But the events during their lunch provided the perfect setup to begin. I would extract the suspicious fledgling like the "good Priestess" I am, watch JC's friends fall a little further, and get the opportunity to speak with Violet.

I brought her back to my office, where both Kalona and Aurox were waiting, and motioned for her to sit down when she stood by the door. She did as I suggested and sat down, allowing the two men to get a closer look at her and for me to evaluate her. "What you did in the dining hall today," I started after a long moment of trying to read her, "was truly remarkable."

"Remarkable, huh?" she asked, "that's never been a word to describe my affinity."

"Well it should be," I answered with an encouraging smile, "it is truly a powerful gift Nyx has granted you with," I explained smoothly.

"I suppose," she responded evenly with a shrug. Though it was hardly recognizable, she seemed confused over what was taking place.

"What is this fledgling's affinity?" Kalona inquired. I looked back to him only to find his amber eyes trained on the girl, curious and intense.

"Fear," Violet answered for herself, "I can make you see your worst fear."

Kalona seemed to mull this over for a moment and then nodded, "she would be a powerful ally to have on our side."

"Then I am glad we have reached the same conclusion," I answered and turned back to Violet, who's confusion had broken through.

"What do you mean 'ally'?" she demanded, "if you aren't going to punish me, why am I here? And just in general, why the hell was I brought to Tulsa?"

"Violet, you were transferred to Tulsa because I was very much impressed with your affinity. Now that I have seen it in action, I am even more impressed," I responded, "I want you here because I believe you can do many great things for me in return for power greater than you could imagine. I wanted you here because I wanted to offer you this deal."

"And what kind of things would I be doing in this so called 'deal'?" she asked and crossed her arms, face remaining cold and impassive.

"What you did to that boy Zane was truly something evil…"

The girl had the audacity to cut me off, "no, that was me teaching an idiot to learn when to back the hell off. It wasn't evil, it was my own style of learning for a flirt."

"But, if trained properly and honed even more, that affinity becomes stronger and can be used for that purpose," I told her, choosing to ignore her ignorance.

"Is that why I'm here?" Violet asked, "because you want me to be some sort of pawn in your little game of Darkness?"

"How do you know about such an ancient magick?" I questioned, choosing not to respond straight away.

"Rumors travel, Neferet. They may not be confirmed, but they travel."

"This I did not know." That was the surprise of my night and a task for me to complete. Those rumors must be put to rest for the time being. "However, I do not wish to control you, I wish for you to stand by me and help me in this battle."

"You're insane to think I would do such a thing," she spat at me.

"Am I?" I asked and arched a brow, "your affinity is extremely powerful and can inflict harm. Your do not have a problem using that affinity on others and you are extremely proud of what you accomplish. Those traits fit in nicely."

"They are merely traits," Violet responded and stood up, "if that's all you wanted from me, then my answer is no and I'm leaving," she announced and went to the door.

"I could redeem your image with this school," I said to her back, "you know what they think of you. They think you killed our student to get here, such mindless sheep they are. Add to it your little outburst in the dining hall, your image has already been shattered on your first day. Your peers do not and will not like you, but I can fix that all."

"You really believe _I_ care what a few fledglings who don't know me think?" she asked and actually laughed, "let them think what they want. Let them fear me even, I don't care. My answer is still no," Violet said and walked out the door.

I could have stopped her with Darkness, I could have forced her into such a thing. I chose not to, very clearly, now was not the time to force her into that kind of decision. It was better to let her stay for a few days, be surrounded by Darkness and begin to accept it. Then was when I would go after her again.

"Do you believe she can be turned?" I asked, turning to look back at Kalona.

"It will be harder than you initially planned, but I believe it can happen. You probably have a better chance at Violet than you do at the Red One or Jennifer," he answered and focused his amber eyes on me, "so long as you play your cards right."

I smirked and focused back on the door my newest student just walked out of, "my cards could never be better, it's impossible to play them wrong."


	11. Preview: Nightmares

**A/N: I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON! FEEL FREE TO THROW TOMATOES AT ME, I DESERVE IT!**

**Life slapped me in the face quite hard. This past summer has been absolutely nuts and I'm already back in school. It's insane how time flies by the older you get.**

**So I come with a small present in the form of this preview. It isn't the full chapter, but I bring it because of the release of the first chapter of _Hidden_ and because I'm trying to get back into writing fanfic. My muse is coming back it feels like, which is a good thing. I'll try insanely hard to get a real chapter out within the next couple of weeks...but I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to make it work.**

**If you like this, thank EJ for it. Seriously, she was the one that accidentally got me thinking about it. I might as well post some of the fun I have written down, right?**

* * *

><p><em>Isle of Skye<em>

**JC's POV**

I wasn't kidding when I said sleep was my new natural enemy. It wasn't so much a typical predator/prey relationship as it was an issue with sleep just avoiding me entirely and not granting me a break to catch up on the two plus weeks of straight sleep I needed. And after the emotional turmoil that was the entire day of people finding out my secret, you'd think maybe I would get a break. Nope. Weirdest. Night. Ever. And that's saying something considering some of the nights I had.

It didn't take much for me to get some sleep after talking with Zoey. The Twins were there and were watching me curiously as I came into our room, walked over to my bed, and flopped face down on it. If that didn't make it apparent that I did not want to deal with anything else that day, I made sure that they knew by promising them to answer any and all questions in the morning, just let me attempt to sleep. They seemed to agree to that, and after deciding I wanted to change into an old t-shirt and sweatpants, I collapsed into bed again and was out soon after.

Too bad being out like a light and actually getting a good night's sleep are two different things (believe me, they _are)_. I got maybe an hour or so before the fun began. When I opened my eyes for the first time and actually became coherent, I noted the ocean in front of me and the sand I was lying on. With a grunt, I hauled myself to my feet and paused when I was met with a pair of burning amber eyes. For the love of Nyx, really?! No break even from Tulsa!?

"I'm beginning to see a trend," Kalona commented as I dusted sand off of my clothes.

"Yeah, me too," I grumbled and got right to the point, or at least hoped to. The likelihood of that _actually _happening seemed to be rather slim, "which one was it this time, Zoey or Stark?"

"Does it really matter?" he answered with a question, "I am here as are you, that's all that really matters."

"No, being here doesn't matter since I know _why_ I'm here," I retorted, "what I'd like to know is what Charge of mine you were going after and for what reasons."

"Ah, but that, young _Wa-ya_, is for me to know and me alone," Kalona told me with a smirk.

I gritted my teeth, "my name isn't _Wa-ya,_ Bird Boy."

"Resorting the name calling will you get you nowhere," he commented, "and you seem to be quite aggravated."

"Yeah well, things aren't exactly going swimmingly right now," I muttered and glared, "and I have no desire to be doing this, as I'm sure you have no desire to be here. Just tell me what I want to know and I can let us both go on our merry way."

His amber eyes glowed as a smug smirk crossed his face, "can you? Are you sure that, this time, this isn't _my_ dream?"

Well that threw me for a loop. Crap. I had absolutely no proof of that whatsoever. I just kind of assumed that he was going after Zoey or Stark, I didn't think we would be connected in any way, much less that he would want to talk to _me. _But I knew he wouldn't have brought it up unless it was true, because he enjoyed to gloat and mock. "But the last time this happened, I was the one in control because I intercepted it, why would this time be any different?" I asked. I was confused to say the least, and my frustration was starting to grow. I mean, I knew he could walk dreams, but I always thought there had to be some type of connection between him and someone else…and unless he was riding in here on my sheer hatred, Kalona and I were _not_ connected.

"Maybe this time, it wasn't an interception," Kalona suggested with a wicked smile, "maybe this time, I came here to talk to _you_."

"You know the last time you attempted to 'talk' to me, I threatened to rip your balls off…that threat still stands," I informed him.

"Then maybe I should take a different approach."

I groaned and repressed the urge to roll my eyes, "cut the shitty mind games, Kalona, and get on with the damn point." He was giving me a headache now and my mood probably just plummeted another 15 points. I didn't care how we were connected now, I just wanted to leave.

"You are a Dark creature, Jennifer," he told me, coming closer, "it calls to you much like it calls to me, and I would like to see you answer that call."

This conversation again? Really? I can't even escape it when I'm talking to Kalona? Ok yeah…maybe that logic was a little skewered since it was him and Neferet that started this topic in the first place. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Neferet, not happening," I answered evenly, arms crossed. Suddenly, I _really_ didn't like where this was going and _really_ just wanted to leave.

"You can say that and believe in that all you want," Kalona added, coming to a stop right in front of me, "but that does not mean it will not come true. Darkness has its own agenda, and he will do what he pleases despite your futile resistance."

"Then let Darkness take a crack at it," I challenged, chin held high. Goddess I didn't really mean that, but I didn't want Kalona think he had the upper hand, "because it isn't happening. I am a Daughter of Nyx, end of discussion."

"So was Neferet," he answered, cold humor in his eyes, "by the Spirits, so was I. Even the greatest of people tend to fall, Jennifer, but you would know that by now," he added and grinned maliciously, "your mother and brother were great people, were they not?"

That was where my line between calm, silently seething, and just pissed off was practically blown to pieces. Something inside of me snapped and the next thing I knew, I lunged at Kalona and tackled him to the ground, hands wrapped around his throat. For my credit, I'm a pretty damn strong girl. For his credit, he really wasn't fighting back. "_Never_ bring my family into this shit you created," I hissed dangerously low, "_never_. Do you understand?"

Kalona's grin never faded, he was getting sick pleasure out of this. "That was the reaction I wanted to see," he said, but his eyes weren't fixed on me.

Just a bit of curiosity followed after my anger, and I followed his gaze over my left shoulder, going rigid from what I saw. A silhouette, an entirely black silhouette that matched the outline of my body perfectly. And then in the blink of an eye, it was gone. It only took a moment for me to realize what it was though...because it sure as hell wasn't my shadow standing straight up. I turned my attention back to the fallen angel, ready to start forcing answers out of him, but he smirked back at me.

"Thank you for your cooperation," he laughed and the world around me started to melt away. I was now more confused and frightened and I wanted to stay to figure out what just happened, but at the same time I was relieved I was getting out of that.

"You are an idiot for falling for that." I should have figured this would happen; I guess getting answers directly from the source wasn't bad either. I waited for Final Destination to appear around me when I heard the second voice, but nothing came except for her. Apparently pitch black (where I could still see my Dark self somehow, dreamworld has no logic) was our new meeting ground.

And my stupidity was the least of my concerns. "How were you there?" I asked, "how is it possible for you to physically appear in other parts of my life?" I demanded. This had never happened before, I figured the only way I would ever be talking to Dark JC was by my dreams with her, but never outside of them. That was a whole new level of frightening and unnerving as fuck. If I was starting to lose control…

"You aren't a very good listener, are you?" she asked and smirked, "like I said, you can't escape me, even here. The isle is filled with ancient magick, mostly Light, but Darkness dwells in these parts too. So while you are getting stronger with Light, I'm being powered with Darkness."

"Enough power to begin wandering through other parts of my mind," I muttered in shocked understanding, "this leads to nowhere good."

"For you, maybe," Dark me shrugged, "for me…it is quite good."

"I promise you that it won't happen."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she smirked, "you aren't a liar, JC."

I smirked back, "my point exactly, I'm not a liar."

She laughed, "your confidence and resolve are rather endearing, I must admit. Those are what have been keeping you going for this long. Eventually those break though, even the greatest fall from grace, and let's remember that you aren't the greatest."

"I may not be perfect, and I'm certain I'm not the greatest," I agreed, shoving the similarities with my conversation with Kalona aside, she _was _there after all, "so I was never in grace to start with, it's hard to fall from something you were never in."

"I consider you to have already started falling from the low place you already were. Your friends know about me now and know you've been keeping secrets. Do you really expect them to trust you and stand by you after discovering a lie like that?" the other JC asked and chuckled darkly, "you would be extremely foolish to do so."

That hurt, I'll admit. What hurt even more was the fact that she was right, and I knew she had a point. But at the same time, I also knew she was wrong, it was just another confusing feeling and more information I had to put together. "They still stand beside me, we all make mistakes," I answered.

"Yours is a rather large mistake, don't you think?"

"To this group? Yeah, it may be a large mistake, but this group has handled worse, I haven't fallen to Darkness like Stevie Rae and Stark did, I have people who understand." Now, if I could only feel as positive of that answer as I sounded. Truly, I didn't know where the hell I stood with anyone other than Zo.

"You keep telling yourself that," she commented, narrowing her eyes, "but don't come crying to me when that belief comes crashing down."

"Oh I promise you, I won't," I agreed to her fading form. I guess she didn't have a whole hell of a lot to say to me. Or she was pushed out by something more powerful. After seeing what was waiting for me after, I had to lean toward the latter.

I recognized instantly that I was in Nyx's Grove, and I was in that black dress again. What I didn't expect was to look up to find a bunch of vampyres, all with a blue crescent and violet star, looking back at me. The only face I could pick out was Nevma, who was standing at the front of the group and giving me a small smile. Well alright then, hello Spirit vampyre meeting. "Welcome, Daughter."

"Um…?" was the only thing I could utter like a total idiot. I could only take so many dream meetings and bombshells in one night, I was only one girl after all.

"You have started taking the right steps, but you must remain cautious and vigilant during your time," Nevma explained, walking to stand in front of me, "you cannot let our race fall to the same evil again."

Color me confused. My mind was still on the track of _my_ Darkness, so even though something in the back of my brain told me I wasn't right, my mouth started working without thought, "I'm not going to fall to Darkness!"

The High Priestess before me gave a reassuring smile, "I trust that you will not. It is not your evil that I am referring to." Before I could even get a word in to ask just what the hell was going on, Nevma turned away to look at all the other Spirit vampyres standing there, "send Sgiach my regards."

The next thing I knew, my body felt like it was standing in the middle of a fire pit and hundreds of screams combined to fill the air. I bolted into an upright position in bed and my eyes quickly adjusted to the dark of the room. I was breathing heavily, my heart was racing, my sheets were soaked with sweat…and for a moment, I had no clue where I was. Then I realized, I was back in my room with the Twins on the Isle of Skye. It wasn't another dream, not another meeting, I was _finally _awake again.


End file.
